IlkMMVPIW'ffI'MR 



a»C.vj»TOT C - «t^ r:y 



B -- r "vrrr i \ -r~ ■-■■-■-■---■-■ ■■ .- ■■-.-,■ ■■-,.-.— -..- 



-•■ 






i 

i 
1 
1 

i 
i 

i 

1 

i 




"Sn&\ 



mSESmmmbm 



I 

ill 




FRO 
PARADISE 
IjOST 




mam 

BBK» 







^^^r»^^w»i^^ 



:L- 



tVMMNWMMMm 



| i li mi ii m i nn ■ 



/>/^ 



MAR 81 ^m r 

b 3 r y of Co< r " 




THE GARDEN OF EDEN, 



THE STORY 



OF 



REDEMPTION 



FROM 
PARADISE 
LOST . . . 



TO 

PARADISE 

RESTORED 



%£> 



BY 



WILLIAM COVERT 



*J£ 



PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY 




COPY, 
1898. 



Oakland, Cal. 
L- 



V 



u 



San Francisco • Kansas City • New York 

TWC ES RECEIVED- 



3Ss* 



4267 



Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1898, by 

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 




PREFACE. 




HE wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6 : 23. Redemption, 
in a Scripture sense, and as contemplated in this volume, is the 
giving of eternal life to a race of beings justly under sentence of 
eternal death. "By one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death 
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Chap- 
ter 5:12. Therefore all are by nature under condemnation of death. So 
also redemption has been offered to every one : ' ' For God so loved the 
world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. 

But this Gift for man's redemption does not inure to the individual 
without an unqualified acceptance, on plainly specified terms. There must 
be belief in the Son. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; 
and He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God 
abideth on him." Verse 36. Another condition is, "If we confess our sins, 
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
unrighteousness." 1 John 1 :g. 

Then our short existence or probation in this world is a matter of life or 
death to all eternity. "Because He [God] hath appointed a day, in the 

(Hi) 



IV PREFACE. 

which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man [Christ] whom 
He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that 
He hath raised Him from the dead." Acts 17:31. "So then everyone 
of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom. 14 : 12. In the light 
of these scriptures, it is clear that redemption is the most important subject 
that ever claimed the attention of the human race. Therefore this book is 
sent forth to give emphasis to the Gospel call. It is sent forth in hope that 
it may be the means of turning the reader's attention more earnestly to 
seeking a knowledge of God through His Word. 

This volume is not designed as a substitute for the Scriptures, although 
it aims to give a comprehensive outline of the story of redemption. If the 
reader's interest shall be so awakened by a perusal of its pages as to inspire 
a more extensive and prayerful study of the Word of God, its purpose will 
have been accomplished. ' 'This then is the message which we have heard 
of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness 
at all." 1 John 1 15. May the reader be led to realize the force of the 
Saviour's assurance, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and 
they are life. " John 6 -.63. Publishers. 





PAGE 

The Record of Creation 9 

Eden Lost to Man . / 14 

Redemption Made Known 19 

The Earth Cursed by Sin 24 

Satan Renews His Kingdom 30 

The Father of the Faithful 37 

Into Egypt 45 

Slavery and Deliverance , 54 

God Proclaims His Law * 64 

The Sanctuary and Its Service « 73 

From the Sea to Canaan 83 

Israel Carried into Babylon 94 

Deliverance from Babylon , 106 

The Saviour on the Earth 118 

The Crucified and Risen Christ 134 

Preaching of the Apostles 150 

Righteousness through Christ ■. . . 160 

The Church and Its Enemies 168 

Jesus Is Coming Again 182 

Preparation for His Coming 199 

Victory over Death \ 207 

The Saints Inherit the Earth 215 

The City of Gold 223 

(v) 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The Garden of Eden (three-color half-tone) . . . Frontispiece 

"Behold, I Stand at the Door, and Knock" 8 

"The Morning Stars Sang- Together" , 9 

The Temptation in Eden 15 

Guarding the Tree of Life 17 

In the Shadow of the Cross 20 

Abel Murdered 25 

The Ark on the Waters 27 

A Watery Waste 28 

"Frozen under Ice and Snow" 29 

Ruins of the "Temple of the Sun" at Baalbec (three-color half-tone) Opposite 32 

The Tower of Babel 33 

Viewing the Promised Land 38 

On the Way to Mount Moriah 41 

Wrestling with the Angel 46 

Joseph Sold into Egypt 48 

Moses by the River's Brink 55 

"Let My People Go" 58 

The Nile and the Pyramids 63 

Mount Sinai 65 

Israel Camped before Mount Sinai 77 

The Altar of Burnt-offerings 77 

The High Priest 77 

Worshiping the Golden Calf 84 

Moses Smiting the Rock 87 

Moses Beholds the Promised Land , 89 

The River Jordan (three-color half-tone) Opposite 90 

Elijah Fed by a Poor Widow 101 

(vi) 



ILLUSTRATIONS. Vll 

PAGE 

Elijah Answered by Fire 102 

Israel Carried into Captivity 103 

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar's Dream 108 

Daniel in the Lions' Den 116 

The Angels and the Shepherds 119 

Fleeing into Egypt 121 

A Ford on the River Jordan 123 

Two Young Girls of Bethlehem 125 

Pilgrims Entering Bethlehem on Christmas Day 125 

Christ Tempted by Satan . 127 

The Dead Raised 130 

The Sick Restored to Health 131 

The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem 135 

The Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane (three-color half-tone) Opposite 136 

Jesus Looked upon Peter 139 

Showing Christ to the Multitude 14 1 

"The Sun Refused to Shine" 143 

Angels Announce the Resurrection 146 

Christ Taken into Heaven 147 

Healing a Beggar at the Temple Gate 153 

Philip and the Ethiopian 156 

Paul's Vision on the Way to Damascus . 158 

Covered with the Robe of Righteousness 164 

Bedouin Women and Children 167 

Constantine's Sunday Edict Affixed to a Public Building 173 

A Funeral in the Catacombs J 77 

The Martyrdom of Huss I 8o 

"He Cometh with Clouds" . . . . 183 

Interest in the Darkening of the Sun - l8 5 

The Darkness Terrifying to Animals J 86 

The Falling Stars l8 7 

A Tidal Wave l8 9 

"Stormy Winds Fulfilling His Word" *9° 

Rapid Travel by Land 195 

Rapid Travel by Sea 195 

The Gospel Messenger • ■ 2 °° 

Going in to the Wedding 2 ° 2 

The Opening Graves 2 °° 

The Desert "Shall Rejoice and Blossom as the Rose" ... 220 

The New Jerusalem 22 5 





Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My Voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and Will sup With him, and he With Me." 



qftwte 



. ■ ■ — . ■■■ ■ i.ii.. i I I .. : — — — - • 1 Li i wiii, i -,■ .... ,-*»^"- :-tt— ..■■■. ,.:■■:>:■■..■.,.;. 

& HE! fv } ORNING S TA R 5 S AlNJ ^ 3 O GETM E R.g 





THE RECORD OF CREATION 



i V ii f , iT i. ■ «««.■» <■ 





IIIHENCE came man? Who placed him here? Why 
was he placed here? What is his destiny? — He is 
born; he lives; he dies. Will he live again? If he 
is to live again, where will be his home? What will 
be his condition ? Will it be that of misery or happiness ? 
What effect will character have upon man's destiny ? Will that 
future life adjust or change the conditions often seen here so that 
it shall be well with the righteous, but that the wicked and the 
oppressor shall receive his just reward ? 

(9) 



IO THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

These and similar questions are continually crowding upon 
the minds and hearts of the people of earth as they stand face to 
face with the great mysteries of life and death. But the Bible 
answers them all. It teaches us that "God is love," and that 
He made man to be an object of His love. God would do us 
good and not evil all the days of our lives. 

The Bible begins with the story of creation. "In the begin- 
ning God created the heaven and the earth." 1 The power of 
God in creation was in His word. The psalmist says: "By the 
word of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the host of 
them by the breath of His mouth. . . . For He spake, and 
it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." 2 

In the beginning the earth was enshrouded with darkness. 
The Lord then said, "Let there be light; and there was light." 3 
The light shone out when the word was spoken. By His word 
He made the grass to spring forth with life and seed. The 
plants and the trees were all created in the same way. That 
word is living yet, and giving life to all things. It is the life of 
God in that word which keeps all things now. The apostle 
says, He upholds "all things by the word of His power." 4 

After the earth, with its plants and trees, its fishes, its birds, 
and beasts, was finished, man was created to be its ruler. God 
said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ; and 
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and 
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God 
created man in His own image, in the image of God created He 
him; male and female created He them." To the man whom 
God thus created was given the name Adam. He was formed 

1 Gen.i:i. 3 Gen. 1:3. *Heb. 1 : 3 . 

2 Ps. 33:6-9. °Gen. 1:26,27. 



THE RECORD OF CREATION. I I 

out of the dust of the ground. The Lord "breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." His 
Maker then presented to him the animals, and Adam, under- 
standing the nature of every one, gave to each its name accord- 
ing to its nature. Then the woman was created, to be the com- 
panion of Adam, that they might share the blessings of the 
world together. 

Every part of the earth was at that time most lovely, yet 
the Lord prepared for them a garden that far exceeded every- 
thing else in beauty. "And out of the ground made the Lord 
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good 
for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and 
the tree of knowledge of good and evil." "And the Lord God 
took the man, and put him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and 
to keep it." This was Paradise, the home of Adam and Eve. 
Everything there gave forth praises to God. Then it was 
that "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
shouted for joy." 7 

The world was now complete ; the handiwork of the Creator 
had fitted it for the home of man. "In six days the Lord made 
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the 
seventh day." The Lord did not rest because He had become 
weary in the work of creation; for "the everlasting God, the 
Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither 
is weary; " but when He had finished the work of creation, 
and looked upon that which He had made, He was glad. 
He took delight in that which had been brought forth by His 
word. "On the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." 10 

It was God's will that man also should be glad and rejoice 

6 Gen.2: 9 ,i5. 8£ x 20 • n 9 Isa.4o: 2 8. 

7 Job 38 : 7. 10 Ex. 31:17. 



12 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

in that which had been done for him. So man was given an 
especial day in which to rest and worship his Creator. "On the 
seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and 
He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had 
made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ; 
because that in it He had rested from all His work which God 
created and made." 11 

In this way was the holy Sabbath made of the seventh day. 
That day of the week upon which God had rested was blessed. 
The rest and blessing made the seventh day a blessed rest or 
Sabbath day. It was then sanctified; that is, the Sabbath was 
set apart for man to use as a sacred day of worship, "holy unto 
the Lord." 12 And Jesus tells us that "the Sabbath was made 
for man." 13 As the Lord rested from His work on the last 
day of the week, so man was told to rest from his work on 
the seventh, or last, day of each week. This rest was given 
not because the man would be weary, but he was to cease from 
labor and take delight in the love of God as manifest in His 
works. In this manner the Sabbath became a sign to man of 
all that God is to him. u 

When man was created he was but a little lower than the 
angels in wisdom, and was crowned with glory and honor, and 
set as ruler over the things in the earth. David says: "Thou 
hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned 
him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion 
over the works of Thy hands ; Thou hast put all things under 
his feet ; all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; 
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea." 15 The world was 

11 Gen. 2:2, s- i3T\/r 1 14 Eze. 20 : 12, 20. 
,„-~ 1,J Mark 2 : 27. 

12 Ex. 31:17. l5 Ps. 8:5-8. 



THE RECORD OF CREATION. 1 3 

to be filled with his posterity, and if faithful, Adam should rule 
them all. 16 

In Eden our first parents were taught of God. They learned 
of His love in the grass and flowers. They gathered rich les- 
sons from the trees and fields, the earth and sky. Man then 
saw the wisdom and love of his Creator in all things which his 
eyes beheld. 

Beast and bird were under man's control, and the gentle 
spirit of love reigned in them all. All lived without fear of 
death or pain, for sin had not yet entered our world. This was 
the free and happy condition of all things upon the earth when 
the Lord made and blessed His works, and pronounced them 
"very good." 

16 Gen. i :28. 







anniiiiiiiiiiiniuuiiiii! 




EDEN LOST TO MAN. 




HEN Adam and Eve were placed in Eden, "the 
Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree 
of the garden thou mayest freely eat ; but of the tree 
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat 
of it ; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die." 1 It was necessary that the character of man should be 
tested. There were but two persons in the world at that time, 
yet they were not to remain alone, and it was important for 
them to know how to respect the rights of others. But, first of 
all, man was to learn to obey the will or law of God. His life 
and happiness depended upon this. Therefore in the beginning 
the Lord kept one tree in the garden for Himself, that He might 
teach mankind obedience. Man was neither to molest the tree 
nor to eat of its fruit. 

The Creator had so fully provided for all their wants that 
the fruit of this tree was not needed for their comfort. They 
( I4 ^ ^en. 2:16, 17. 



EDEN LOST TO MAN. 



15 



had abundance without touching it. Thus the way was made 
easy for them to obey. But Satan, the great enemy of God 
and His law, determined to cause the downfall of Adam and 
Eve. To do this he used the serpent as a medium to tempt 
and lead them into sin. So it came to pass that Satan caused 
the serpent to speak to 
Eve, and ask her if God 
had said she should not 
eat of every tree in the 
garden. 

Doubtless she was sur- 
prised to hear the serpent 
speak, especially to hear it 
ask about the very thing 
which the Lord had said 
she must not do. As she 
listened to the tempting 
voice, he urged her to eat 
of the forbidden fruit. He 
told her that eating of it 
would make her wise. In 
reply Eve said that the 
Lord had told them they 
would surely die if they should eat the fruit of that tree. But 
the serpent made light of her fears, and said, "Ye shall not 
surely die ; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, know- 
ing good and evil.'" 

It was Satan who gave voice and words to the serpent, and 

'-'Gen. 3:4, 5. 




'^i 



"As she listened 

to the tempting 
Voice," 




1 6 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

what he said was false. "He is a liar, and the father of it." 
Eve was deceived and made to believe the serpent's words. 
Believing Satan, she could not continue to believe what the 
Lord had said. She thought He was purposely keeping her 
from being wise. And as she did not choose to believe God's 
Word, she was brought under the power of Satan. "Know ye 
not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his serv- 
ants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of 
obedience unto righteousness?" "And when the woman saw 
that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the 
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the 
fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with 
her; and he did eat." 5 

In this act they transgressed the commandments of God and 
became sinners. They believed Satan instead of God. They 
chose their own way instead of God's way. Their joy was gone. 
Their love for God had departed. "And Adam and his wife 
hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the 
trees of the garden." 6 They were filled with shame and dread. 
Unhappy indeed was that hour for them. Sin always brings 
torment and fear, while obedience gives peace and rest. 

As soon as. Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, 
they became sinners, and angels were sent to guard the tree of 
life, lest they should eat of its fruit and live forever in sin. 
They were then required to give up their Eden home. God 
"drove out the man ; and He placed at the east of the Garden 
of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every 
way, to keep the way of the tree of life." 7 In sorrow the man 

3 John 8:44- 5 Gen. 3:6. 6 Verse 8. 

* Rom. 6:16. 7 Verse 24. 



EDEN LOST TO MAN. 



17 



and his wife departed from Paradise. Edenic flowers were in 
full bloom ; trees were laden with fruit, and the air was heavy 
with fragrance; but our first parents left it in sorrow and despair, 
while the angels in sadness closed the gates against them. 

They had not been weary while living there. Nothing had 
taken place to cause them pain or fear. But now all these 
things were changed. The Lord said to Adam, "Because thou 




'And he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sWord 
Which turned every Way, to keep the Way of the tree of life." 



hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the 
tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of 
it ; cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of 
it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring 
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground ; for out of it wast thou taken ; for dust thou art, and 
unto dust shalt thou return." 8 

2 8 Gen. 3: 17-19. 



i8 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



The Lord did not drive man from Eden because He was 
angry with him ; God did it in love. The sorrow of man is 
intended to bring him good. " For whom the Lord loveth He 
correcteth ; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." 
"For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of 
men." 10 "Sorrow is better than laughter ; for by the sadness of 
the countenance the heart is made better." 11 Men and women 
seek the Lord when in trouble more than they do at other times. 
As Adam would not be instructed by word, God in mercy left 
him to learn the evil of sin by testing its terrible fruit. But God 
did it all that man might see sin as it is, and that he might turn 
to God. 

9 Prov. 3:12. 1& Lam . 3 : 33. ll Eccl. 7:3. 





REDEMPTION MADE KNOWN 




OSING their innocence did not separate mankind from 
God's love. Christ has said, "God so loved the world, 
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." l This great love reached back to the beginning and 
included Adam. It also extends forward, that it may embrace 
all people who have ever lived upon the earth. It is true that 
man's transgression brought the sentence of death upon him, 
but as soon as he was doomed to die, the Lord offered 
him another life in His Son. "In this was manifested the love 
of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son 
into the world, that we might live through Him." 2 

When Adam and Eve were told what would come upon 
them in consequence of sin, Satan was told what the result 
would be to him. The Lord said, "I will put enmity between 
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it 

1 John 3 : 16. 2 i John 4 :g. 

(19) 



20 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt. bruise his heel." 3 Adam 
and Eve were doubtless present, and heard what the Lord said 
to the tempter at that time. From this conversation Adam and 
Eve learned that Satan would finally be destroyed for his sins. 
They also learned that man was to have another chance or 

opportunity to be saved, through Christ, 
the Son of God, who was here 
called "the Seed of the woman." 
In speaking of the en- 
mity which would be placed 
between mankind and the evil 
one, the Lord showed that 
even sinners could never be 
fully satisfied in the service 
of Satan. The sorrow and 
disappointment arising from 
sin causes them to desire 
something better than 
anything which sin can 
give. They are never 
fully happy in trans- 
gression. This enmity 
against evil, placed in 
man's heart by God's 
goodness, opens the way and makes it possible for the Spirit of 
God to get hold on the mind. Thus the unconverted person is 
troubled when thinking of his sins. Often he wishes for some- 
thing which will satisfy. Many times he finds himself longing 
for a pure heart and a holy life. All this comes from the Spirit 

3 Gen. 3:15. 




Adam and Eve stepped out of Paradise into 
the shadow of the cross. 



REDEMPTION MADE KNOWN. 21 

of God. But Satan can give no lasting satisfaction to the 
sinner. The prophet said: "The wicked are like the troubled 
sea, when it can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 4 

Satan can bring nothing but sorrow to any person, therefore 
God finds room to place enmity in the hearts of men against 
the works of Satan, so that they desire freedom from sin and 
its power. These things have been true ever since Adam and 
Eve sinned. Then man was taught how to believe in the 
Redeemer, for it is written of Christ that He is "the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world." Although Christ did not die 
for man in the beginning of the world, yet He was then given 
to man as a Saviour. It was then that the Son of God "gave 
Himself" to die for all. 6 Therefore every person who has iived 
since the world began has had a chance of salvation through 
Jesus. 

With this hope set before them, Adam and Eve stepped out 
of Paradise into the shadow of the cross. Even then by faith 
they could accept the offering of Christ for sin. For it is 
written that He was the "true Light which lighteth every man 
that cometh into the world." The Lord created man in love, 
therefore He determined to save as many of the human race as 
possible from eternal ruin. For this reason He began with the 
very first man to urge him to receive salvation through the 
Redeemer. But Adam and Eve were condemned to die even 
before they were given a hope of redemption, therefore Christ 
did not save them from dying for their first transgression. 
Death was brought into their natures with sin, and they could 
not escape it. 

4 Isa. 57 :2o, 21. 5 Rev. 13:8. 6 Titus 2:14. 7 John 1:9. 



22 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

In man's first transgression there was sorrow and death for 
the human family. That which Adam lost for himself was also 
lost to all his children. Therefore, all mankind received death 
through the fall, and are compelled to die as Adam and Eve 
died. But Christ came to ''seek and to save that which was 
lost." 8 He came to give everlasting life to all who believe and 
obey through Him. 9 Man's sin did not change God's purpose 
in any way. The plan is still to be carried out through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. That which Christ is seeking to save 
includes the man, with his home, beautiful Eden. In salvation 
is life, and home, and peace forever. 

Man was made a worshiping being. God is the true object 
of worship. Adam taught his sons to worship. Of them it is 
said that Abel brought the firstling of his flock, or firstling of 
the sheep, and sacrificed it before the Lord, "and the Lord had 
respect unto Abel and to his offering." 10 Abel knew, when his 
offering was received, that he was accepted as a child of God. 
The Bible tells the story in these words: "By faith Abel offered 
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he 
obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his 
gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh." 11 

Abel understood the subject of redemption through the 
blood of Christ, for he made his offering by faith in Christ, and 
was made righteous by this faith. God accepted the lamb and 
its blood as figures to represent the body and blood of Christ. 
Abel's faith was counted for righteousness, because through it 
he received Christ and the righteousness which is in Christ. 
Thus by faith Abel was redeemed from sin. In this case it is 
seen that the son of Adam was saved by faith in Christ. 

8 Luke 19:10. 9 See John 3 :36. 10 Gen. 4:4 n Heb. 11:4. 



REDEMPTION MADE KNOWN. 2$ 

Notice also that the testimony which God gave of Abel is yet 
speaking. By this testimony the Lord is telling us that we can 
be saved in the same way that Abel was saved. 

Abel by faith could see the blood of Christ represented in 
the blood of the sacrificial lamb. In its death he showed his 
faith in the death of his Redeemer. In its sufferings he beheld 
the sufferings of Christ. He knew that the lamb was innocent, 
yet he caused it to die for his sins. Just so he believed that 
Christ, the innocent One, would in due time* die for him. 
Through his faith he yielded himself to the Lord and became a 
righteous man. 

Satan had fully expected to get possession of Paradise when 
man sinned ; but the Lord cast all sin and sinners out of Eden, 
and preserved Paradise, with all of its glory. No curse of sin 
rested on a tree nor a plant of that place. Everything was 
kept in all its holiness, and for a time, at least, man might look 
through from the outside and see some of its beauty. Men 
could learn from all this that God would restore it to the earth 
when the curse of sin was fully removed. Other scriptures tell 
where Paradise now is, and show that it will be returned to the 
earth when the curse of sin is taken away. 





THE EARTH CURSED BY SIN. 




HE Creator's reason for making the earth is told in 
these words: "For thus saith the Lord that created 
the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and 
made it; He hath established it, He created it not in 
vain, He formed it to be inhabited." 1 "The heaven, even the 
heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath He given to the 
children of men." 2 "As truly as I live, all the earth shall be 
filled with the glory of the Lord." 3 But the Lord formed the 
earth to be inhabited by the obedient and good, for "the meek 
shall inherit the earth." i This does not mean that the good 
shall possess the earth for a little while, and then be compelled 
to give it up; but "the righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell 
therein forever." 5 This is God's purpose. 

But Satan planned to possess the earth for himself, and to 
use it in building up his kingdom. Yet his kingdom can not 
give happiness to any person, nor be in harmony with any- 
thing good. It pollutes all that it touches. When its dark 
shadow entered our world, it brought a dreadful curse with it. 

3 Num. 14 : 21. 



1 Isa. 45 : 18. 
2 Ps. 115 : 16. 

(24) 



4 Matt. 5:5. 

5 Ps. 37 : 29. 



THE EARTH CURSED BY SIN. 



25 



Misery and death followed. Even the ground was made to 
bring forth thorns and thistles because of sin. Yet when man 
first began to till the ground which was cursed by sin, it yielded 
much better than it does now, because the curse has increased 
as men have sinned 
more and more. 

Cain, the first-born 
son of Adam and Eve, 
did not believe in re- 
demption through the 
blood of Christ. And 
when his brother Abel 
offered a lamb in sacri- 
fice to God, Cain of- 
fered only the fruit of 
the ground. But his 
offering was rejected, 
while Abel's offering 
was accepted. Cain 
was greatly displeased 
because his offering was 
refused. The Lord 
reasoned with him, and 
tried to turn him from 
his sinful course, but he 
refused to be reconciled, and accused and condemned Abel for all 
the trouble. Finally, 4< it came to pass, when they were in the 
field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." 6 
After he had murdered his brother, the Lord said to him, 

6 Gen. 4:8. 




"Gain rose up against 
his brother Abel and slew 
him." 



26 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

''Where is Abel thy brother?" Cain answered, "I know not: 
Am I my brother's keeper?" — as though he could hide from 
God ! And the Lord said to Cain: "The voice of thy brother's 
blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou 
cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive 
thy brother's blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, 
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive 
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." 7 

Since the first murder the earth has rested under a double 
curse on account of sin. This is the kind of kingdom which 
Satan has set up in the earth. This is all he can give to those 
who serve him; and that but for a little while. He told Adam 
and Eve that they would be happier in disobedience than if they 
continued to obey the Lord. But how vain are all his promises 
has been shown by the sad disappointments of six thousand 
years. 

The descendants of Cain, like himself, did not believe in 
salvation through Christ, nor in the judgment to come; therefore 
they did all manner of evil without any restraint. " And God saw 
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that 
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually." Because of this great and increasing wickedness, 
the Lord said, " I will destroy man whom I have created from 
the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping 
thing, and the fowls of the air." 9 

At this time there were still a few families that walked in 
obedience to God. There was Methuselah (the man who lived 
to be nine hundred and sixty-nine years old), and his son 
Lamech, and his grandson Noah, who yet believed and walked 

7 Gen. 4 : 10-12. 8 Chapter- 6 : 5. 9 Verse 7. 



THE EARTH CURSED BY SIN. 



27 



uprightly. But the world in general walked in the evil paths of 
sin and death, even to its fulness. 

At the time of which we are writing Methuselah was almost 
eight hundred and fifty years old; Lamech, nearly six hundred 
and sixty, while Noah's age was about four hundred and eighty 
years. 

The Lord informed Noah one hundred and twenty years be- 
fore it came to pass, that 
a flood of water was com- 
ing to destroy wickedness 
from off the earth. Noah 
was also shown how to 
build an ark, by which 
himself and family might 
escape destruction. The 
ark was also of sufficient 
size to carry some of every 
kind of animal upon the 
dry land and every kind 
of fowl which the Lord 
wished to preserve alive 
in the earth. 

It is written, "By faith 
Noah, being warned of 
God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark 
to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the 
world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." 1§ 
Noah faithfully warned the world of the coming flood, but the 
people did not believe his words, and therefore, when not 

10 Heb. 11:7. 




The ark v^as also of sufficient size to carry 
some of every kind of animals." 



28 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



another soul would yield to God, the flood came and they per- 
ished in the waters. Only Noah and those with him in the ark 
were left to again people the earth. 




Three-fourths of all the earth Was under the Waters of great oceans 

and seas." 



The flood changed the appearance of the whole world. The 
rain fell for forty days and forty nights, and the fountains of the 
great deep were broken up; so the waters from within the earth 
were mingled with that which fell from above, until even the 
mountains were covered. " 

At the close of this fearful visitation the ark rested upon the 
mountains of Ararat, and there Noah and his family stepped 
forth once more upon the earth. Then the Lord made 
promise to him that He would no more curse the earth for man's 
sake. 12 But the world was in a sadly broken condition. Many 

11 See Gen. 7 : 12, 17-20. l2 See chapter 8 : 2T. 



THE EARTH CURSED BY SIN. 



20 



great mountains had been thrown up, and large, barren deserts 
were left as a result of the flood. Three-fourths of all the earth 
was under the waters of great oceans and seas. Most of the 
mountains were ragged and strewn with rocks. Parts of the 
earth were covered with salt, and other parts frozen under ice 
and snow. And all of these unpleasant and inconvenient things 
are yet found in our world because of the curse of sin. 




Parts of the earth Were covered with salt, and other parts frozen under 

ice and snovV." 




SATAN RENEWS HIS KINGDOM. 




HE wicked world perished in the flood, yet Satan did 
not cease in his efforts to rule men. He simply 
watched for an opportunity to begin anew his evil 
course. He began his work even among Noah's 
sons ; and it was not long after the flood before many had 
departed from the ways of truth, and gone into the vilest of sins. 
"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither 
were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their 
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, 
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible 
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, 
and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God 
also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own 
hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves ; who 
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served 
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever." 1 

(30) x Rom. 1 : 21-25. 



SATAN RENEWS HIS KINGDOM. 3 1 

These are the downward steps that were taken by some of 
Noah's descendants. "They did not like to retain God in their 
knowledge," so "God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do 
those things which are not convenient." 2 They permitted evil 
desires to enter their minds, and then God's Spirit was not 
wanted. 

The first mention of sin among the descendants of Noah is 
concerning the lack of honor which Ham showed to his father. 
Noah drank fermented wine and became drunken. It is very 
probable that the patriarch did not know the nature of wine. 
He had at that time only begun "to be an husbandman." 3 He 
did not know that it would injure him when he drank it. Yet 
Ham was glad of this misfortune ; he had been held in restraint 
by his father's righteous life till then, and he used that circum- 
stance as an excuse for entering upon a life of sin. And with 
that beginning Satan renewed his work. 

The first king chosen among men after the flood seems to 
have been Nimrod. He was the grandson of Ham, and great- 
grandson of Noah. Of him it is written : "And Cush begat 
Nimrod ; he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a 
mighty hunter before the Lord ; wherefore it is said, Even as 
Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning 
of his kingdom was Babel [or Babylon], and Erech, and Accad, 
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." 4 The power of Nimrod was 
used as a byword in his day. Babylon was the beginning of his 
kingdom ; from that city his dominion soon extended to other 
cities and countries. And the world spoke of him as "the 
mighty hunter before the Lord." He was a mighty savage chief, 
who usurped the place of God, and knew how to control men. 
2 Rom. i :2§. 3 Gen. 9:20. 4 Chapter 10:8-10. 



32 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Nimrod, and those who joined his kingdom, separated from 
others of Noah's descendants. They simply wished to follow 
their own ways without being restrained. "And it came to pass, 
as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the 
land of Shinar ; and they dwelt there." This plain was the rich 
valley of the Euphrates River. Here they decided on the place 
for the beginning of their kingdom and began to build a city 
and organize their work, that they might not be scattered abroad 
and separated from each other. "And they said, Go to, let us 
build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; 
and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the 
face of the whole earth." 6 

While people need a government to protect society from the 
violence and robbery of evil men, this plan of the building of the 
tower and the use to which it was put, was all contrary to God's 
will. Therefore before their work was completed God came 
down and confounded their language and scattered them abroad. 
Said the Lord: "They have all one language ; and this they 
begin to do ; and now nothing will be restrained from them, 
which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and 
there confound their language, that they may not understand 
one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from 
thence upon the face of all the earth ; and they left off to build 
the city." 7 

Those who organized this kingdom were persons who had 
departed from God, and they desired to have the worship of 
false gods encouraged by the government. It was Satan's plan 
to use earthly kingdoms to build up his work in the world. He 
knew that men would worship something, and that the success 

5 Gen. ii : 2. 6 Verse 4. " Verses 6-8. 



05 

o 

11 



rn 

CD 

m 
J> 
-J 

-i 

rn 

13 

r 
rn 

o 

"n 

-I 

z 
rn 

CO 

c 

z 



-I 

CD 

> 
> 

r 

DO 

rn 
O 







h "■'■- -. "•"'-■■ -i 
•-- ' - ■--■■■? 

v^ ^ ■•■■■■ .*£ 






SATAN RENEWS HIS KINGDOM. 



33 



of his cause largely depended upon what they worshiped. To 
suit Satan's purpose, their gods must agree with their corrupt 
natures, and encourage sinful habits. He planned for idol wor- 
ship when he told Eve she should not die, but should become 
as gods. 8 As soon as 
mankind could be made 
to believe this doctrine, 
the way was prepared 
for the worship of false 
gods. When he told 
Eve that she should not 
die, it was wholly false 
yet millions of people 
have since believed the 
falsehood. They affirm 
that men do not really 
die, but when we call 
them dead they have 
simply gone to live in 
some other place. 

The next step was 
to worship as gods what 
was supposed to be the 
spirits of the dead. Out of spirit- 
worship came the making of im- 
ages and heathen temples. It 
was not at first claimed that an 
image was a god; it was supposed to be a place where some 
dead person dwelt, and that spirit was worshiped. An idolater 
said, "We do not think that brass, and gold, and silver, and 

3 v 8 Gen. 3:5 




" Let us buiid us a city and a tov/er 
v/hose top may reach to HeaVerv." 



34 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

other materials of images, are of themselves gods, but in these 
we worship the gods brought into them by dedication." 

If there was a spirit present in any of these images it was the 
spirit of Satan, or of some fallen angel. But it was usually 
claimed to be the spirit of some one who had lived upon the 
earth. The teachings of that spirit often required those who 
worshiped the idol to lead a life of corruption and shame. This 
manner of life kept God out of the mind and strengthened the 
sinful nature of man. It opened up the world to the work of 
Satan, and made way for the kingdom of darkness as nothing 
else could have done. 

Idolatry was introduced into every kingdom of olden times. 
Satan has at times almost ruled the world through this means. 
By it the evil one deceives millions of people and reigns over 
them. The doctrine which teaches that man becomes a god 
instead of dying, does much to build up the cause of evil. But it 
is all false. The psalmist says, "In death there is no remem- 
brance of thee." 9 "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his 
earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." ,0 Solomon declares, 
"The dead know not anything." 11 

Man has no life in his nature which reaches beyond the 
grave. Only in Christ can he have a future life. Jesus is the 
life -giver ; immortality comes only through Him. "When Christ, 
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him 
in glory." 12 Christ says, "I am the way, the truth, and the 
life." 13 But the worship of something claiming to be the spirits 
of the dead has kept much of the world in heathen darkness. 
Whole empires are held under the influence of this delusion. 

9 Ps.6: 5 . "Eccl. 9 :5. ^t 3 '' 4 ' 

10 Ps. 146:4. 13 John 14:6. 



SATAN RENEWS HIS KINGDOM. 35 

In China it is claimed that the spirits of dead ancestors can give 
more help than the God whom Christians worship ; therefore 
they oppose Christianity. The same belief in some form is met 
with in every heathen land. If the Bible truth of life only 
through Christ was believed in all the world, there would not be 
a false god anywhere. 

The teaching of idolatry prepared the way for some dead 
king (perhaps Nimrod) to be consecrated, and called Baal, Bel, 
or Lord. He then received worship as the chief god of the sun. 
Sun-worship was almost universal among the nations of ancient 
times. As Baal became the chief god of the sun, his worshipers 
chose a day for Baal-worship. The time selected was the first 
day of the week. Out of this came the custom of Sunday- 
keeping. By turning away from God to the worship of Baal, 
the heathen rejected the Lord's Sabbath, and chose in its stead 
the day which was dedicated to the worship of the sun. Sacri- 
fices were offered to these evil spirits to prevent them from 
becoming angry, and these supposed spirits were supposed to 
keep their worshipers from harm. Even little children were 
burned in sacrifice to these false gods. The parents who 
offered up their children did it to appease the wrath of the 
angry gods. 

These were the kind of gods which Satan prepared for the 
subjects of his kingdom. Such things were actually done by 
the people who did not like to retain God in their knowledge. 
"For every abomination to the Lord, which He hateth, have 
they done unto their gods ; for even their sons and their daugh- 
ters they have burnt in the fire to their gods." u "And they built 
the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of 

14 Deut. 12 131. 



3° 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through 
the fire unto Molech." It does not seem possible that the 
human mind could become so darkened as to do these abomina- 
tions ; but Satan's kingdom is darkness, and sorrow, and death. 

13 Jer. 32:35. 







5 ^ ■'-.'■. 







THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL. 




HEM and Japheth, of the sons of Noah, remained 
faithful to the cause of God while they lived, so had 
nothing to do with building the tower of Babel. 
Would that their descendants had done the same. 
The eleventh chapter of Genesis traces the posterity of Noah 
through Shem. Here it reaches Abram about ten generations 
this side of the flood. But Shem was still living many years 
after Abram was grown to manhood. By this time, however, 
Abram's father and many of his relatives had gone into idolatry. 1 
But Abram was a worshiper of the true God, and a firm believer 
in the coming Redeemer. 

Satan had now a strong hold upon most of the descendants 
of Noah. It therefore became necessary to make another sep- 
aration among men, that the knowledge of God might be pre- 
served in the earth. So the Lord called Abram, and said to 
him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and 

1 See Josh. 24: 2. 

(37) 



38 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee ; and 
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and 
make thy name great ; and thou shalt be a blessing ; and I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ; 
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." 2 

It was a trial for Abram to leave his kindred and home, that 
he might go to a strange land ; yet 
"by faith Abraham, when he was called 
to go out into a place which he should 
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; 
and he went out, not knowing whither 
he went." 3 The experience was all 
new to him, but he trusted everything 
to the promise of God, for 




that to him was more pre- 
cious than home and friends. 
In company with his wife, 
Sarai, and a few other per- 
sons, Abram was led to the 
land of Canaan. After reach- 
ing the place, the Lord told 
Abram to lift up his eyes 
and look toward the north, 
and the south, the east, and 

the west. He then told him that all the land which could be 
seen should be given to him and his seed forever. God also 
said that Abram's seed should be so many that it would be 
as easy to count the dust of the earth as to number them/ 
The promise was so great that Abram could scarcely believe 



"The Lord told Abram to lift up his eyes 
and look toward the north, and the south, 
the east, and the West." 



2 Gen. 12 : 1-3. 



3 Heb. u: 8. 



Gen. 13 : 14-16. 



THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL. 39 

it all ; so to encourage him, the Lord spoke again, saying, "Fear 
not, Abram ; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." 
Yet the Lord had not made a full statement before Abram 
remarked that as he had no children, some one of his household 
must be his heir, and the beginning of that numerous seed. 
But the Lord said the promise was not to be fulfilled in that 
manner, for Abram should have a son of his own. This son 
should be the heir. The Lord then requested him to look 
heavenward and count the stars. But Abram knew that would 
be impossible, so the Lord told him that sometime his seed 
should be as difficult to number as the stars in the sky. 

Then Abram understood what was meant by these promises. 
An own son was to be born to him. Through the descent of 
that son, Christ, the Redeemer, should be born. The number 
saved, born again through Him and to eternal life, would be so 
many that they could not be counted. "And he believed in the 
Lord ; and He counted it to him for righteousness." 

But Abram and his wife had no children, and they were then 
quite aged ; yet the man believed all that the Lord promised. 
Paul says that Abram "against hope believed in hope, that he 
might become the father of many nations." "And being fully- 
persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to 
perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteous- 
ness." 7 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord 
appeared unto him again, and said : " I will establish my cov- 
enant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee. 
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land 
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an 
everlasting possession ; and I will be their God." 8 

5 Gen. 15:6. 6 Rom. 4:18. 7 Verses 21, 22. 8 Gen. 17:7, 8. 



40 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

When this covenant was made, Abram's name was changed 
to Abraham. The word Abraham means "father of a multi- 
tude." At the same time the name of Abram's wife was 
changed from Sarai to Sarah, which name means "princess." 
Soon after this the Lord gave them a son, whom they called 
I saac. 

When Isaac was almost grown to manhood, the Lord told 
Abraham to take his son into a mountain and offer him up for a 
burnt-offering. His love for Isaac seemed to make it impossible 
for him to obey. And, too, the young man was the joy of his 
mother and the pride of all their household. Moreover, the 
Redeemer was to be born through the posterity of Isaac, and in 
the Redeemer was the hope of salvation not only for Abraham 
but for all the world. Yet Abraham knew that the Lord had 
commanded him to sacrifice his son, and what should he do ? 
He could not think of disobeying God, but how could he slay 
his son ? But he in assurance of faith knew that the Lord's 
word could not possibly fail respecting Isaac and his seed, and 
he decided to obey, and to leave results with the Lord. 

When his decision was fully made, his doubts were gone. 
He believed that if he offered up Isaac, the Lord would raise 
him from the dead. Thus the scripture says : u By faith Abra- 
ham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac ; and he that had 
received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom 
it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting 
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead ; from 
whence also he received him in a figure." 9 

When the appointed day came, "Abraham rose up early in 
the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young 

9 Heb. ii : 17-19. 



THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL. 



41 



men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the 
burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which 
God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up 
his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto 
his young men, Abide ye here with the ass ; and I and the lad 
will go yonder and wor- 
ship, and come again 
to you. And Abraham 
took the wood of the 
burnt -offering, and 
laid it upon Isaac his 
son; and he took the 
fire in his hand, and 
a knife ; and they 
went both of them 
together. And 
Isaac spake unto 
Abraham his fa- 
ther, and said, My 
father; and he said, 
Here am I, my 
son. And he said, 
Behold the fire and 
the wood ; but 
where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ? " ia 

Abraham was careful to leave the young men at a distance 
from where the offering was to be made, lest they should prevent 
him from doing- what the Lord commanded. Even the inno- 
cent question of Isaac concerning the lamb for the burnt- 




' r\nd / iDraham took the 
Wood of the burnt-offer- 
ing, and laid it upon Isaac 
his son." 



Gen. 22 : 3-8. 



42 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

offering did not cause the patriarch to falter in his purpose to 
do as the Lord had directed him. 

When everything was ready, Abraham informed Isaac of all 
that he was going to do. The son had so much faith in his 
father, and in the word of God, that he meekly suffered himself 
to be bound and placed on the altar, that he might be slain, and 
afterward burned up. But when the preparation was complete, 
and Abraham had raised the knife to slay his son, an angel 
called to him to stay his hand. Abraham looked and saw a 
ram fastened in some bushes, and he took the ram and offered 
him instead of his son. When he had shown himself to be 
ready to obey in every particular, the Lord swore by his own 
life that He would surely fulfil all He had promised to Abraham, 
and to his seed. 11 

There can be no doubt that Abraham fully intended to offer 
up his son for a burnt-offering, and Isaac certainly expected to 
die and be consumed upon that altar. This fearful trial of 
faith was a figure of the offering up of God's Son for the 
sinner. In it is seen a picture of the willingness of Jesus to 
die for man, and of His meek submission to God in all things. 

The whole life of Isaac was filled up with faith and love. 
No complaining nor act of wickedness is written of this man. 
When he was forty years old he was married to Rebekah. To 
him was repeated the promise which God gave to Abraham, 
saying, "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will 
bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these 
countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abra- 
ham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as 
the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these 

11 See Gen. 22 : 1-18. 



THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL. 43 

countries ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed." 

To Isaac and Rebekah were born two sons, Jacob and Esau. 
Esau never was a believer in the promises, but Jacob became a 
man of faith. And the Lord made Jacob also the same promise 
that He had given to Abraham and Isaac, saying, "I am the 
Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the 
land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed." 13 

The men who received these promises understood that they 
would pass into death ; and they further believed that after a 
while they should be raised from the dead. Beyond that they 
expected the curse of sin would be removed from the earth, and 
when all was finally done, that the saved would live in the earth 
made new. 

The Bible says, "Through faith also Sarah herself received 
strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when 
she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had 
promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as 
good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and 
as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all 
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen 
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, 
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the 
earth." u "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, 
and heirs according to the promise." 13 

"They which are of faith, the same are the children of 
Abraham." And again, "So then they which be of faith are 
blessed with faithful Abraham." The same apostle also says 

» Gen. 26 : 3, 4. u He b. 11 : 11-13. " GaL 3 = *9- 

u Chapter 28 : 13. 16 Verses 7, ?. 



44 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



that the promise which God made to Abraham implied that he 
was to be heir of the world. 1 That is, these promises show 
that the whole world is to be renewed and given to the people 
of God. 

Abraham lived to be one hundred and seventy-five years 
old. He then died and was buried in a cave called Machpelah, 
by the side of his beloved wife Sarah, who died many years 
before. 

17 Rom. 4 : 13. 





INTO EGYPT. 




)|ACOB and Esau were twin brothers, and each desired 
his father's blessing and the birthright. Difficulty 
arose between them over this question; Jacob wronged 
his brother, and Esau threatened to slay him. This 
alarmed Jacob, and he fled from home, and more than a score of 
years passed away before he visited his native land. During 
his absence there were born unto him twelve sons, and from 
these came the twelve tribes of Israel. 

While returning to Canaan, the name of Jacob was changed 
to Israel. As he journeyed homeward, his mind filled with 
remorse, fearing his brother Esau's vengeance, yet craving 
God's blessing, the angels of God met him in the way. 1 Their 
presence doubtless made a deep impression on his mind, and 
overwhelmed him with the sense of the divine watchers. He 
became anxious to make friends with his brother. He would 
do all in his power to undo his wrong, and then plead with God 
to change his brother's mind. He therefore sent messengers 

J See Gen. 32 : 1, 2. 

(45) 



46 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



to the land of Seir 2 to meet Esau and plead for friendship. But 
Esau was not ready to make peace; and when he learned where 
Jacob could be found, he started with four hundred men, to 
destroy him. As soon as Jacob's messengers told him of what 
Esau was intending to do, he began to seek the Lord most 

earnestly, that he 
might be delivered 
from sin and saved 
from the violence of 
his brother. 

He first sent Esau 
a large present from 
his herds and flocks, 
and then sought for 
a secret place to pray. 
But Jacob was not 
alone, for God's 
Angel, whom he 
supposed to be a 
man, and perhaps 
a robber, was pres- 
ent all the night. It 
seems that Jacob wrestled with the Angel while he prayed to 
the Lord, and yet he did not receive an answer to his prayers 
during all the night. This wrestling and praying lasted till 
the dawn of morning, before Jacob learned that he was striv- 
ing with a being not of earth. The Angel touched his thigh, 
and put it out of joint. Jacob then discovered who it was, and 
the Angel made as though He would leave him in his distress. 




"This Wrestling and prayfng lasted till the daWn 
of morning, before Jacob learned that he Was 
striving With an angel." 



Gen. 32 13-7. 



INTO EGYPT. 47 

But Jacob, notwithstanding his pain, grasped hold of the Angel 
and said, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." How 
earnestly the penitent, helpless man pleaded! He desired noth- 
ing so much as the blessing of peace and forgiveness. The 
Angel then asked him his name. And when he said, "Jacob," 
the Angel said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but 
Israel ; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, 
and hast prevailed." The name Jacob means "a supplanter." 
It describes an evil character. But the name Israel means "a 
.prince of God," or one who prevails with God. 3 Ever after that 
night of prayer Jacob and his people have been called Israel. 

When Jacob and Esau met, the Spirit of the Lord had sub- 
dued the anger of Esau, and they embraced each other in love, 
and wept for joy. Their trouble was settled and peace was 
restored. 

When Jacob finally reached his father's home, Rebekah, his 
mother, was dead, and had been buried in the cave of Mach- 
pelah.*. His father was yet alive, but died at the age of one 
hundred and eighty years. He, too, was placed to rest in Mach- 
pelah, to wait till the righteous dead shall be raised to life again. 

Jacob's sons. 

The twelve sons of Jacob were named Reuben, Simeon, 
Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, 
Joseph, and Benjamin. Jacob loved Joseph more than the 
other sons of his family, and bestowed extra favors upon him. 
Among his special gifts to Joseph was a princely coat made of 
many pieces and many colors. Joseph was also favored with 
dreams from the Lord. But his brethren hated him because of 

3 Gen. 32:28. 



4« 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



his father's love, and also* because of his dreams. They became 
so unkind as not to speak peaceably to him. 

While entertaining this feeling of hatred toward Joseph, they 
were sent from home to find pasture for their flocks. After a 
time Jacob sent Joseph in search of them, to see if all were well. 
Joseph traveled many miles before he found his brethren; but 

when they saw him 
afar off, instead of 
meeting him In 
love, they said one 
to another, "Let us 
slay him, and cast 
him into some pit, 
and we will say, 
Some evil beast 
hath devoured him; 
and we shall see what will become of 
his dreams." * 

Reuben would not agree to the mur- 
der, but proposed that they cast him 
into a pit in the wilderness and let him 
perish there. Reuben was intending 
to steal him out of the pit and return 
him safely to his father. But he 
chanced to go some distance from his brethren, and they took 
Joseph out of the pit and sold him to some Ishmaelite traders. 
These traders took Joseph into Egypt and sold him to Poti- 
phar, a chief officer of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 

Joseph's brethren took his beautiful coat, dipped it in the 

4 Gen. 37 : 20. 





"They took (Joseph 
out of the pit and sold 
him." 



INTO EGYPT. 49 

blood of a kid, and showed the stained garment to their father, 
saying, "This have we found; know now whether it be thy son's 
coat or no?" The father, knowing the coat, supposed that 
Joseph had been devoured by some wild beast. He mourned 
so deeply that none could comfort him. Jacob's sons had ban- 
ished Joseph from sight, but they were not happy. The anguish 
of their brother, as he plead with them not to separate him from 
home, could not be forgotten. And the sorrow of their father 
over the loss of his son kept their sin fresh before them. 

Thus in sadness many years passed away before relief came. 
Joseph, as a slave, was freer than his brethren who sold him 
through envy. "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a 
prosperous man ; and he was in the house of his master the 
Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him, 
and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 
And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him ; and 
he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he 
put into his hand." ° 

Joseph was in course of time thrown into prison because of 
a false report. But even there he behaved himself with so much 
wisdom that the keeper of the prison committed to his hand all 
the prisoners. While he was connected with the prison the Lord 
gave him wisdom to interpret dreams. King Pharaoh had a 
dream, and, learning of Joseph's wisdom in interpretation, sent 
for him. After hearing the dream of Pharaoh, Joseph told the 
king that it related to a famine which was coming upon the 
earth. As in the dream the king had seen seven fair and good 
cattle devoured by seven lean ones, and seven good ears of corn 
consumed by seven blasted ones, so there would first be seven 

5 Gen. 39 : 2-4. 
4 



50 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

years of plenty, and these would be followed by seven years of 
famine. 

After he had interpreted the dream, Joseph advised Pharaoh 
to appoint men throughout the whole land to store away one- 
fifth part of the grain during the seven years of plenty. The 
grain thus stored away was to be kept for the people to eat 
during the seven years of drought which would follow the years 
of plenty. 

In response to Joseph's interpretation and advice, Pharaoh 
said to his servants: "Can we find such a one as this is, a man 
in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, 
Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so 
discreet and wise as thou art; thou shalt be over my house, and 
according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled ; only in 
the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto 
Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt." 

Joseph did faithfully all that Pharaoh intrusted to his care. 
He stored up grain all over Egypt, filling garner and crib, for 
seven years. "And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the 
sea, very much, until he left numbering." Then came seven 
years in failure of crops. A famine was in all lands. But in 
Egypt there was food stored away, and Joseph had it all in his 
hands. Then the starving people from different countries began 
to come to Egypt to buy food. Two years had gone by, and 
many people had been coming to Joseph to purchase grain, 
when one day ten weary travelers, hungry and dusty, arrived 
from the land of Canaan. They came in and bowed down 
before him with their faces to the earth. He then remembered 
that twenty-one years before that time, when he was but a lad 

6 Gen. 41:38-41. " Verse 49 



INTO EGYPT. 51 

of seventeen years, and living at his father's house, he had seen 
in a dream those same men bow down before him in just the 
same manner in which he now saw them. 8 

Joseph knew he could not be deceived, and that there be- 
fore his eyes were his own brethren, even the same ten who had 
hated him and sold him into Egypt, bowing down before him. 
They did not look wicked and hard-hearted, as they did when 
he had, with weeping eyes, bade them good-by at Dothan. 
They were tired, hungry, and careworn; and Joseph could only 
love and pity them in their humble condition. Yet he did not 
think it best to make himself known to them at that time. He 
believed the opportunity had come when he could help them to 
become better men. He talked to them in such a way as to 
find out what was in their hearts. His desire was to learn if 
they really loved their father as they ought, and whether they 
were sorry for the manner in which they had treated their 
brother Joseph. 

He made as though they were spies. This drew them out 
to tell him all about his father and his brother Benjamin — those 
who were at home. He learned in that way that they really 
loved their father and brother. Still, he bound Simeon before 
their eyes, and told them to leave him in Egypt as security that 
they were all true men. They were told to retrace their steps 
to Canaan and return with their brother Benjamin into Egypt. 
This act of Joseph greatly alarmed his brethren. They talked 
to each other in the Hebrew language of the troubles which had 
come upon them, thinking that Joseph could not understand 
what they said. In their conversation Joseph heard them con- 
fess their sins about the way they had treated him. He also 

8 See Gen. 37:5-8. 



$2 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

heard them speak of how he had wept in anguish when they 
sold him. In their confessions they said, "We are verily guilty 
concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, 
when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this 
distress come upon us" 9 Joseph knew, when he heard this 
confession, that the Spirit of God was working upon their hearts. 
He treated them in this manner in order to bring them to repent 
of their sins and be converted. And they did repent. Satan 
had thought to lead these ten men to destruction, but the Lord 
finally turned it all into victory. 

When they returned to Egypt with Benjamin, Joseph made 
himself known to his brethren. As they learned that the great 
man before whom they had been bowing was their own brother 
Joseph, they were terrified. They doubtless expected he would 
punish them for the wicked way they had treated him. But he 
requited evil with good, cruelty with kindness. Not one harsh 
word did he utter. He endeavored to relieve their minds by 
saying: "Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold 
me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. 
For these two years hath the famine been in the land ; and yet 
there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing 
[sowing] nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve 
you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great 
deliverance." 10 

When his brethren knew that he was really Joseph, and that 
he yet loved them after all their harsh treatment of him, there 
was a wonderful greeting and weeping with these twelve strong 
men. After they had dried their tears, and were ready to listen 
calmly, Joseph told them to hurry home and bring his father 

» Gen. 42:21. 10 Chapter 45 15-7. 




INTO EGYPT. 



53 



and their families to Egypt, because they could not live through 
the five years of dreadful famine yet to come if they remained in 
Canaan. They returned home and told their father the won- 
derful news about Joseph. At first Jacob thought the tidings 
were too good for him to believe. But Joseph had sent wagons 
to carry his father into Egypt, and many rich presents besides; 
and when he saw with his own eyes all that Joseph had sent, 
Israel said, "It is enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive ; I will go 
and see him before I die." u 

Then Israel and his people went into Egypt, the whole 
number of whom was seventy persons. And the king gave 
them homes in that part of Egypt called Goshen. This journey 
of Israel took the promised seed of Abraham out of Canaan, and 
placed them in Egypt. Jacob was one hundred and thirty years 
old when he entered into Egypt. He lived in Egypt seventeen 
years, and died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven. 
His children carried him up to the land of Canaan, and he was 
buried by the side of Leah his wife, in the same cave where 
Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah were sleeping. 

11 Gen. 45: 28. 





SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 




OSEPH lived more than fifty years after the death 
of his father. During his life the children of Israel 
enjoyed the good favor of the Egyptians. But Joseph 
died, and many years afterward a king from a foreign 
country came to the throne, who knew nothing about him and 
his family. And this king said, " Behold, the people of the 
children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come on, 
let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to 
pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto 
our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of 
the land." 1 

This ruler was afraid to let the Israelites remain free in the 
land; so he reduced them all to slavery. As bond-servants they 
were shamefully treated. But the more they were afflicted the 
more they multiplied. Their lot was exceedingly bitter, yet 
their number rapidly increased. Finally the king ordered that 

1 'Ex. i :g, 10. 
(54) 



SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 



55 



all the male children in Israel be destroyed as soon as they were 
born. Under such affliction all that God's people could do was 
to pray for deliverance. 

In the time of this oppression a promising son was born to 
Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. The mother deter- 
mined to keep the Egyptians from killing the babe, so she hid 
him for three months. Then, as the Egyptians searched for 
him, she made a little 
ark of rushes, and se- 
creted the child among 
the flags by the river's 
brink. The mother 
then had her daughter 
Miriam stand some 
distance away to watch 
the ark. "And the 
daughter of Pharaoh 
came down to wash 
herself at the river; 
and her maidens walked 
along by the rivers 
side; and when she saw 
the ark among the flags, 
she sent her maid to fetch it."" 
babe was found to be weeping. 

The woman knew that a mother's love had placed the infant 
there to keep him from being put to death, and she decided, in 
order to save his life, to keep him as her own child. Just then 
Miriam ran up, as if she would see the babe, and speaking, said, 

2 Ex. 2 15. 




She made a lit- 
tle ark of rushes, and 
secreted the child among 
the flags by the river's 
brink." 



The ark was opened, and the 



56 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

" Shall I call a Hebrew woman to nurse him ?" # And the daugh- 
ter of the king said, "Go." With quick feet and anxious heart 
Miriam ran and brought her own mother, and Jochebed was 
hired to nurse her own son. Pharaoh's daughter named the 
child Moses, which means "drawn out," from his being drawn 
out of the water. 

It was a custom in Egypt for the nurse to care for and teach 
the king's children until they were twelve years old. Jochebed 
improved these twelve years in teaching Moses the Gospel 
truths which the Lord had shown to Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. She did her work well, and Moses became a believer 
in Christ. 

As the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses was kindly 
treated, and was well educated in all the learning of the Egyp- 
tians. He was called the prince of Egypt, and Pharaoh and 
his daughter arranged to make him king and place him on the 
throne. But Moses had already received something far better 
than the world could give him. He therefore did not desire 
the kingdom of Egypt. "By faith Moses, when he was come 
to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, 
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; 
for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." 

Moses cared not for the throne. He knew that the Lord 
had something of more worth than worldly honor and riches. 
Shortly afterward, while visiting his brethren, Moses slew an 



*The Israelites were called Hebrews, from Heber or Eber, one of their ancestors. 
See Gen. 10 : 21, 25. 

:! Heb. 11 : 24-26. 



SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 57 

Egyptian who was smiting an Israelite, and for that act of 
violence he was compelled to flee from the country. He then 
went to Midian, and there lived as a shepherd for a period of 
forty years. His experience in caring for his flocks gave him 
a schooling in tenderness and meekness, and he became one 
of the most humble and kind-hearted men that the world has 
ever known. It fitted him to be a shepherd over the flock of 
the Lord. 

By this time another king, or Pharaoh, ruled in Egypt. "And 
the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they 
cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. 
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His cov- 
enant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." i Moses was 
now eighty years old; and one day while leading his flock near 
Mount Horeb he beheld a bush which seemed to be on fire, 
and yet it was not consumed. As he moved forward to see 
what the strange sight meant, the Lord called to him from the 
burning bush and said, "Moses, Moses." And Moses answered, 
"Here am I." Then the Lord said, "I have surely seen the 
affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard 
their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sor- 
rows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of 
the Egyptians." 5 

The Lord then commissioned Moses to visit Pharaoh and 
tell him to let Israel go. But Moses dreaded to meet the king. 
He was also afraid that his own people would not believe his 
word. Yet, after making many excuses, he finally consented 
to go with his brother Aaron, before his own people, and coun- 
sel with them over the question. If the people should be found 

4 Ex. 2:23, 24. 5 Chapter 3 : 7, 8. 



58 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



ready, then Moses and Aaron. would present the demand before 
Pharaoh. According to this plan Israel was informed of what 
the Lord wished to do for them, "and the people believed; and 
when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of 
Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, they then 
bowed their heads and worshiped." Moses and Aaron then 

went before Pharaoh with their message. 
ty told the king that the Lord had said 
; he should let Israel go and worship in 
wilderness. But said Pharaoh: "Who 
is the Lord, that I should 
obey His voice to let 
Israel go? I know not 
the Lord, neither will I 
let Israel go." 7 

After this visit Pha- 
raoh oppressed Israel 
more than ever. So, 
in order that Pharaoh 
might know God and 
let Israel go, many 
plagues came upon the 
Egyptians ; and following each plague Moses and Aaron would 
plead with Pharaoh to let their people go. First the waters of 
Egypt were turned into blood, and there was blood in the waters 
throughout all the land of Egypt. Then the blood was taken 
away, and the waters sent forth such a multitude of frogs that 
they overran the homes of the people. There were frogs in the 
beds and in the ovens, and over all the land. The frogs were 

6 Ex. 4:31. " Chapter 5: 2. 




" They told the king that the Lord had said that 
he should let Israel go and Worship in the wilder- 
ness." 



SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 59 

removed, and in their place came lice. Even the dust of the 
earth was turned into a plague of lice. Next, many sorts of 
flies and insects filled all their coasts. They became a cor- 
rupt and destroying pest even in the house of Pharaoh, and in 
the homes of his servants. After the flies departed, a plague of 
murrain destroyed many of the cattle. Then came boils upon 
the Egyptians and upon their beasts. A desolating hail and 
mighty thunder next came. After that swarms of locusts cov- 
ered the earth, and devoured every growing substance which 
remained in the land. Darkness then came over all the land for 
three days, so dense that it could be felt. And yet Pharaoh 
refused to let Israel go. 

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague 
more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt ; afterwards he will let you 
go hence." 8 "And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About 
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ; and all the 
first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of 
Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of 
the maid servant that is behind the mill ; and all the first-born 
of beasts. " 9 

The Lord also told His people to be ready to depart from 
Egypt, for when this last plague should fall upon the Egyptians, 
they would drive Israel out of the land before morning. 

THE PASSOVER. 

On the dreadful night of the last visitation the Israelites 
were commanded to sacrifice a lamb in every house and to 
sprinkle its blood upon the door posts and lintel, "For," said the 
Lord, " I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and 

8 Ex. ii : i. 9 Verses 4, 5. 



60 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and 
beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; 
I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon 
the houses where ye are ; and when I see the blood, I will pass 
over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, 
when I smite the land of Egypt." 1G 

They prepared the sacrifice and sprinkled the blood, as 
directed; and not one of them was slain. "And it came to pass, 
that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of 
Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto 
the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the 
first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and 
all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry 
in Egypt ; for there was not a house where there was not one 
dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, 
Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and 
the children of Israel ; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. 
Also take your flocks and your herds." n 

The Egyptians were so urgent that Israel could not wait 
for the light of morning. They went forth from the house of 
bondage in the night, with six hundred thousand men, besides 
women and children. Also a multitude of Egyptians and mixed 
people (part Hebrew and part Egyptian) went with them. The 
feast on the night in which Israel departed from Egypt was 
called the Passover. It was the night in which the angel passed 
over the homes where the blood was sprinkled, without destroy- 
ing the first-born in them. That sprinkled blood was a token 
of Israel's faith in the blood of Christ, and it showed that they 
were trusting in Him for deliverance. 

10 Ex. 12 : 12, 13. u Verses 29-32. 



SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 6 1 

The terrible plagues on the Egyptians caused many of them 
to see that there was no power in their false gods to help or 
protect them. Perhaps every plague upon that people proved 
some of their gods to be false. They worshiped the river Nile, 
but that was turned to blood. One kind of cattle was a sacred 
object of worship with them ; but the plagues destroyed every 
god among the sacred cattle. They worshiped the sun, moon, 
and stars ; but one plague shrouded all these in darkness for 
three days and three nights. By this means the Lord made 
some of the Egyptians see that all their idols were false ; and 
those who learned this lesson went to Israel to learn about the 
true God. 

It was night when Israel departed from Egypt, yet they had 
a bright light ; for the Lord, clothed in a pillar of fire, led them 
in the way He would have them go. "And the Lord went 
before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; 
and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day 
and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, 
nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." 

But Israel had scarcely gone when Pharaoh and his officers 
said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from 
serving us?" Then Pharaoh called for his soldiers and started 
with an army after Israel. The Lord did not lead His people 
directly toward Canaan, the land to which they had started, but 
marched them down on the west side of the Red Sea, where 
they were almost hemmed in by the mountain and the sea. 

They were there when Pharaoh's army came in behind them. 
As the Egyptians drew near, the Israelites were greatly alarmed, 
but Moses said to the people: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see 

12 Ex. 13 : 21, 22. 



62 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day; 
for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them 
again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall 
hold your peace." 13 Then the Lord commanded Moses to lift up 
his rod and stretch out his hand over the sea and divide its 
waters, so that Israel could go on dry land through the midst 
of it. 

Then the mighty pillar of cloud and fire rose high, and pass- 
ing over their heads, settled down behind the Lord's people and 
shut them in. The cloud was darkness to the Egyptians, but it 
shone with brightness upon God's people. It made the camp 
of the Egyptians dark as night, while that of Israel was light as 
day. As Moses stretched forth his rod, the sea divided, "and 
the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the 
dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their 
right hand, and on their left." 14 

Israel went forward, and the Egyptians followed with their 
horses and chariots of war. But the angels of God took off the 
chariot wheels, and the chariots sank into the sand. And the 
Egyptians said, " Let us flee from the face of Israel." But it 
was impossible to retreat then. As Israel reached the other 
shore, the Lord requested Moses to again stretch his hand over 
the sea. He did so, and the waters returned upon the Egyptians, 
and not one escaped. 

When the morning dawned, all Israel were safely over the 
sea; there they learned what had become of the Egyptians, for 
there they beheld their dead bodies cast upon the shore. When 
they saw the wonderful deliverance which God had wrought, 
Moses and the people sang a joyful song of victory. It is called 

13 Ex. 14: 13, 14. 14 Verse 22. 



SLAVERY AND DELIVERANCE. 



63 



the Song of Moses, and is found in the fifteenth chapter of 
Exodus. What music they made that glad morning ; for there 
were six hundred thousand men to sing, and as many women to 
join the chorus with timbrels ! That was a happy day for Israel. 
But there is a happier day coming, when we, with a much larger 
company, may sing the song of deliverance on a far brighter 
shore than the banks of the Red Sea. But we also must " go 
forward " to gain the victory. 




The Nile and the Pyramids. 




GOD PROCLAIMS HIS LAW. 




ORE than four hundred years passed away after 
Abraham was called out from his father's house, before 
his people departed from the land of Egypt. God 
delivered them from bondage that they might obey 
the truth, and teach it to others who were yet in darkness. 
After leaving the Red Sea they were led to Mount Sinai to 
be instructed in their mission. Being thus separated from the 
heathen nations, the Lord desired to make a covenant with them 
concerning obedience to His law. He therefore called Moses 
and told him to say to Israel: "Ye have seen what I did unto 
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and 
brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My 
voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine; and 
ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation 
(64) 



GOD PROCLAIMS HIS LAW. 



65 



These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children 
of Israel." 1 

Moses then called the people together and presented the 

Lord's proposition to them. "And all the people answered 

together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." 

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify 

them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash 

"^V their clothes, and be ready against the third 




MOUNT SINAI, 

"And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, 
that there Were thunders and lightnings, and a thick 
cloud upon the mount." 






day; for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of 
all the people upon Mount Sinai.' 2 

The people prepared themselves, and the Lord fulfilled His 
appointment. "And it came to pass on the third day in the 
morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick 
cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding 
loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet 



1 Ex. 19 : 4-6. 



- Verses 8, 10, 11. 



66 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount." 3 
And with a voice that shook the earth, the Lord proclaimed 
thus His holy law: — 

" I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land 
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

" [I] Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 

" [II] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any 
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth 
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not 
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them ; for I the Lord thy God am 
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and 
showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My 
commandments. 

" [III] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain ; 
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. 

" [IV] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt 
thou labor, and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath 
of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor 
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, 
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; for in six 
days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them 
is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab- 
bath day, and hallowed it. 

"[V] Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be 
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

■"[VI] Thou shalt not kill. 
" [VII] Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
" [VIII] Thou shalt not steal. 

3 Ex. 19 : 16, 17. 



GOD PROCLAIMS HIS LAW. 6j 

"[IX] Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 

"[X] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not 
covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, 
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's/"' 4 

Afterward, in speaking of the day in which God proclaimed 
His law, Moses said: "Ask now of the days that are past, which 
were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the 
earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, 
whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or 
hath been heard like it ? Did ever people hear the voice of God 
speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and 
live?" Another, in speaking of the character of the law, 
said: "Thou earnest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest 
with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and 
true laws, good statutes and commandments." 6 

Of these commandments David sang: "More to be desired 
are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than 
honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is Thy servant 
warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward." Moses 
also spoke of the importance of keeping these commandments in 
the presence of other people, saying, "This is your wisdom and 
your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear 
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and 
understanding people." "And what nation is there so great, 
that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, 
which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, 
and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which 
thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all 
the days of thy life ; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' 

4 Ex, 20 : 2-17. 5 Deut. 4 : 32, 33. 6 Neh. 9 : 13. 7 Ps. 19 : 10, 11, 



68 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

sons." 8 "And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and 
sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, 
before our eyes ; and He brought us out from thence, that He 
might bring us in, to give us the land which He sware unto our 
fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, 
to fear the Lord our God, for our good always." 9 

"The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of 
gold and silver." "O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation 
all the day." 10 Or, as Paul said, " I delight in the law of God 
after the inward man." And again he wrote, "The law is holy, 
and the commandment holy, and just, and good." To a man 
who asked the way of life, Christ replied, "If thou wilt enter into 
life, keep the commandments." Every one in the way of life 
keeps the commandments. 

In the First Commandment the Creator says, "Thou shalt 
have no other gods before Me." In truth, any other god is not 
God. All things which are claimed to be gods are false. "Shall 
a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?" 11 "All 
things are of God." 12 And "every good gift and every perfect 
gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." 13 

The Second Commandment forbids the worship of images. 
He that worships God in truth worships only through Jesus 
Christ. "For there is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." 14 God is not wor- 
shiped through an image, nor a saint, nor an angel. 

The Third Commandment forbids the use of our Maker's 
name except with solemn reverence. "Holy and reverend is 
His name." Never use that name in a careless way. It may 

8 Deut. 4:6, 8, 9. j° Ps ' TI 9 : 72, 97- "James 1:17. 

9 Chapter 6 : 22-24. Jer. 16:20. "Acts 4:12. 

Vl 2 Cor. 5: 18. 






GOD PROCLAIMS HIS LAW. 69 

be properly used in prayer, and in speaking of the cause of the 
Master. 

The Fourth Commandment enjoins the keeping of the 
Sabbath day, and gives the reason for its observance. The 
Sabbath commandment is the only one of all the ten which tells 
us who it was that spoke the law at Sinai. He who commands 
man to keep the Sabbath day is the one who made all things. 
Of course He has the right to give this law, and to command all 
people to obey it. The rest day has been sanctified, and given 
to man to be kept in remembrance of the love and wisdom and 
power of God manifest in His works. The keeping of another 
day in the week will not answer. There was only one day of 
the week which was sanctified and blessed to be the Sabbath of 
the Lord, and that day was the seventh. 

The Fifth Commandment enjoins all to give due honor to 
father and mother. This is binding upon all, whether old or 
young. Children should certainly try to make their parents 
happy. There is nothing more beautiful in life than for son or 
daughter to treat tenderly the father and mother. Neither does 
anything harden the heart more than to misuse them. The 
Lord says, "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth 
to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out." 15 
If we could read the history of all truly great men, it would be 
found that they have honored their parents. 

The first sin mentioned this side of the flood was that of 
Ham in dishonoring his father. Abraham would not depart for 
the land of Canaan until his father was dead. 16 Moses received 
the instruction which made him good and great through the 
teaching of his parents, and all his useful life stands as an honor 
to them. 

15 Prov. 30: 17. 16 Acts7:4. 



JO THE • STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

But a still richer lesson is given in the life of Christ. Altho 
He was the Son of God, yet when here on the earth He was sub- 
ject to His earthly parents. 17 His words were always kind, and 
He was ever ready to be a help in the home; and when at last 
He was dying on the cross, among His last words was the 
placing of His mother in the tender care of the beloved disciple. 
"And from that . hour that disciple took her unto his own 

1 » 18 

home. 

The Sixth Commandment forbids murder. Every command- 
ment must be obeyed in the heart, if it is obeyed at all. Murder 
may be in the heart of a person who never actually takes the 
life of another. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." 19 
The spirit of murder is in the heart which cherishes anger. To 
neglect those who are sick and in need, may lead to their death. 
It requires a kind, tender disposition to enable one to obey this 
precept. It must be written in the heart. 

The Seventh Commandment forbids adultery. The person 
who lives a holy and pure life must have pure thoughts. 
Thoughts that are good come from God's Word. "Thy Word 
have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin again Thee." 20 
To constantly study the Scriptures and meditate on the prom- 
ises of God will keep the mind pure. Jesus says, "Blessed are 
the pure in heart." But evil actions come from a bad heart. 
"From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, 
adulteries, fornications." 21 

The Eighth Commandment says, "Thou shalt not steal." 
This commandment must also be kept in the heart. The heart 
must possess the love of God, or the man can not love his 
neighbor as he loves himself. The one who does love his 

"Luke 2:51. -x John vis- -Ps. 119:11. 

18 John 19:27. 2l Mark 7:21. 



GOD PROCLAIMS HIS LAW. Jl 

neighbor will never desire to steal that which belongs to him. 
Men first steal in their hearts, 22 that is, their hearts desire to do 
that wicked thing before they perform it with their hands. 
Many times the heart is willing to do a bad thing, but the 
person is afraid of being punished if he allows his hands to do 
it. Such an one disobeys the commandment in the heart. 

The Ninth Commandment says that false witness must not 
be borne. There are many threatenings in the Bible against 
the liar. No one who loves a falsehood will ever have access to 
the tree of life, or a place in the New Jerusalem ; all such will 
be found outside the city. 23 He is to have his portion in the 
lake of fire. u Do not tell a lie in word or act, with feet, hands, 
head, or eyes. Do not for a moment retain one in the mind, 
nor laugh at one when some one else tells it. Never deceive, 
for deceit is false witness. 

The Tenth Commandment forbids covetousness. The 
covetous person wishes to get things for less than their 
worth. He often hires the poor at small wages, and tries to 
buy at small prices. But he sells his goods at the highest pos- 
sible rate. The Lord says: "They cause the naked to lodge 
without clothing; that they have no covering in the cold. They 
[the poor] are wet with the showers of the mountains, and 
embrace the rock for want of a shelter. They [the covetous] 
pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the 
poor. They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they 
take away the sheaf from the hungry." 20 But the law~ can not 
be obeyed until it is written in the heart. Therefore God says, 
"These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine 
heart ; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, 

22 Mark 7 : 22. '-" See Rev. 22 : 14, 15. 2i Chapter 21 : 18. a5 Job 24 : 7-10. 



72 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and 
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and 
when thou risest up." 26 

26 Deut. 6 : 6, 7. 





THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE. 




FTER God gave His holy law, Israel retired from the 
foot of the mount to their camps, and Moses was 
called into the presence of God to receive further 
lessons for them. Having heard the instruction, he 
returned and gave the message to the whole congregation. He 
also repeated the law in their hearing, and asked if they would 
be obedient to all that had been said. "And all the people 
answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the 
Lord hath said will we do." Then Moses wrote all the words 
of the Lord in a book. 

He then made an offering of a clean beast for all Israel, and 
sprinkled half the blood of the offering upon the altar, and read 
to the people from the book which he had written, giving them 
a chance to answer once more. And they said again, "All that 
the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." When the 
final answer had been given, Moses took the blood which yet 

1 Ex. 24 : 3. 

(73) 



$74 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

remained of the offering, and sprinkled the book and all the 
people, saying, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the 
Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." 

The reader can see that Israel at this time made an agree- 
ment with the Lord in which they solemnly promised to obey 
His law. This agreement is called the "old covenant." The 
promise to keep the law was made by the people, but this 
promise did not of itself give them power to keep it. Strength 
to obey the law of God must always come through faith in 
Christ. The power must come from God, and not from man. 

When the covenant was finished, Moses was once more 
called up into the mountain, and remained there with the Lord 
forty days and forty nights. On that occasion the Lord showed 
him the pattern of the sanctuary which is in heaven. "And the 
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of 
Israel, that they bring me an offering; of every man that giveth 
it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering. And this 
is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and 
brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' 
hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim 
wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet 
incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in 
the breastplate. And let them make Me a sanctuary; that I 
may dwell among them." 3 Here the Lord promised to dwell 
with them if they would make Him a sanctuary. His presence 
would be especially manifest in the house built for Him. 

"The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the 
Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to 
bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded 

2 Ex. 24 : 8. 3 Chapter 25 : 1-8. 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE. 75 

to be made by the hand of Moses." 4 Then the Lord chose two 
men, Bezaleel and Aholiab, and taught them by His Spirit , 
how to do all the skilful work in making the sanctuary. 5 
While they were traveling it would be necessary to carry the 
sanctuary with them, therefore it was so constituted that it could 
be taken apart and easily transported from place to place. It 
was also called the tabernacle. 

The building consisted of two rooms, called the holy place 
and the most holy place; and joined to these was a large 
inclosure called the court. The door of the court, and also the 
door of the sanctuary, were towards the east, so that when the 
worshipers came before the Lord, either in the court or in the 
sanctuary, they always had their faces turned away from the sun- 
rising. Doubtless the Lord had them pitch the tabernacle in 
this manner because all idolaters worshiped the sun with their 
faces to the east, or rising of the sun. Certainly the Lord would 
not have His people worship as the idolaters do. 

In the court was an altar for burnt-offerings, which was 
placed on the north side of the door of the tabernacle. In the 
first room, or holy place, of the sanctuary was a table for bread, 
placed on the north side of that apartment. This table was 
called the table of shew-bread. On the south side of the same 
apartment was a golden candlestick, with seven golden lamps, 
which were to be kept burning both day and night. Then there 
was a golden altar for incense at the west end of the same 
room. 6 In the most holy place, or second apartment, was placed 
an ark, or box of shittim wood, overlaid with gold inside and 
outside; and in this sacred ark Moses put the law of ten com- 
mandments which God had written upon two tables of stone. 7 

4 Ex. 35:29. 5 Chapter 31 : 2-6. 6 Chapter 40: 26, 27. 7 Chapter 31 : 18; 40: 20. 



76 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

The top, or covering, of the ark, was called the mercy-seat. 
On either end of the mercy-seat was an angel or cherub made 
of beaten gold. A wing of each cherub spread out over the 
mercy-seat till they touched each other right over the center of 
the mercy-seat. Their faces were turned inward and down- 
ward. 8 They seemed to be looking toward the law of God, 
which was under the mercy-seat, the expression of God's char- 
acter, while at the same time they were beholding the mercy of 
God hovering over the mercy-seat. God, by His law, which was 
in the ark, condemned all sin; yet, through His mercy, He was 
ready to forgive every one who would confess and turn away 
from his transgressions. 

When the sanctuary was finished, and the altars, the table, the 
candlestick, the ark, and the law were all arranged according to 
the pattern, "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and 
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Thus the Lord's 
glory in the sanctuary showed that He had come to dwell among 
His people. He was then ready to receive their offerings and 
confession of sins at the sanctuary. 

He selected His priests or ministers from the tribe of Levi. 
It was to this tribe that Moses and Aaron belonged. Aaron 
became the first, or high priest, and his sons and their sons after 
them, in their generations, were made priests to serve in the 
sanctuary. 

But before we go further in this story, let us read two texts 
of Scripture. The first one is i John 3 14, which says, "Whoso- 
ever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the 
transgression of the law." The second one is Rom. 6:23, 
"The wages of sin is death." The first text shows that when 

8 Ex. 25: 17-21. 9 Chapter 40: 34. 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE. 



77 



one has sinned he has transgressed the law of God. The second 
one declares that the wages of sin is death. These truths were 
taught to Israel, and they knew that the sinner was worthy of 
death. But in the sanctuary service the Lord accepted the life 
of an animal, such as He told them to offer, instead of the 
sinner's life. The person who transgressed the law brought his 

offering into the court, and there placed 
his hand on the head of the animal to be 
offered, and then slew it, and the priest 
offered the blood before the Lord in the 
court at the altar of burnt-offering. This 

was the service for 



one of the common 
people. But if a rul- 
er, or priest, or the 
whole congregation, 
sinned, the priest 
v^ took some of the 
blood into the holy 
place and sprinkled it 
seven times before the 
Lord in the first apart- 
ment of the sanctuary. 
The body of the ani- 
mal whose blood was taken into the holy place was burnt out- 
.side of the camp. The bodies of other offerings were partly 
eaten by the priests, and the other portion burned upon the 
altar of burnt offering. 10 

The person who made an offering was taught to repent and 

10 See Lev. 4: 1-31. 




The tabernacle and camp of 
Israel before Sinai. 

The altar of burnt-offering. 
The high priest. 



- 



7& THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

confess his sins to the Lord. It was also necessary for him to 
have faith in Christ. The offering of an animal was simply an 
expression of such faith. The sacrifice thus offered was a figure, 
or type, representing the Saviour of the world. When the 
sinner in faith placed his hands on the offering, he believed the 
Lord received his confession and forgave his sins. When he 
shed its blood, he said by such an act that he believed that 
Christ gave His life for the world and would sometime shed 
His own blood for sinners. He also showed when he took 
the life of the offering that he himself was worthy of death. 
And when he saw the innocent lamb or kid suffer and die as 
an offering for his sins, it pointed him forward to the death of 
Christ. The sinner knew that "it is not possible that the blood 
of bulls and goats should take away sins;" 11 but as he made his 
offering through faith in the blood of Christ, he had forgiveness 
through faith in that blood. 

The apostle Peter, writing on this subject, said, "Ye were 
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from 
your vain conversation [idolatry 12 ] received by tradition from 
your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb 
without blemish and without spot; who verily was foreordained 
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these 
last times for you." 13 Here the apostle teaches that none were 
ever redeemed from their idolatrous ways since the foundation 
of the world, only through the precious blood of Christ. The 
sanctuary offerings were designed to teach these Gosoel truths 
to the people. 

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 

The Bible teaches that there is a time of judgment for God's 
11 Heb. 10:4. l2 Eze. 20 : 18. 13 i Peter 1 : 18-20. 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE. 79 

people, and that Jesus is their Saviour then as certainly as He 
is their Redeemer in this life. That judgment work was repre- 
sented in the sanctuary service. It came once at the end of 
every year, and represented the judgment of God's people which 
takes place in the end of the world. 

This atoning judgment service was on the tenth day of the 
seventh month, counting from the time that Israel came out of 
Egypt. A full account of this service is found in the sixteenth 
chapter of Leviticus. In the offering which was for the people, 
the high priest received from the congregation two young goats, 
which were to be used in the service of that day. These he 
brought to the door of the sanctuary, and there cast lots upon 
them; one goat was to be the Lord's, and the other was called 
the scapegoat. The priest then killed the Lord's goat and took 
its blood into the most holy place, and sprinkled it seven times 
upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat. He also 
sprinkled the blood seven times upon the golden altar of incense 
in the holy place, or first apartment of the sanctuary. And 
when he had finished offering the blood of the Lord's goat, he 
laid his hands on the head of the live goat, and confessed over 
him "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their 
transgressions in all their sins," putting them upon the head of 
the scapegoat. Then that goat was sent away into the wilder- 
ness with all the sins of Israel on his head. 14 

This day of atonement was literally a day of judgment 
among the Israelites. Whosoever did not afflict his soul, who 
was not represented in the offering made for sin, that soul was 
"cut off from among his people." 10 That yearly day of judg- 
ment typified the great day of judgment in the end of the world, 

14 Lev. 1 6 : 20-22. 15 Chapter 23 : 27-29. 



So THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

even as the blood of the goat represented the biood of Jesus 
Christ. 

The offering in the most holy place was made only on the 
day of atonement. The blood which the high priest sprinkled 
on the mercy-seat represented the blood of Christ, which, in the 
day of judgment, will be the believer's passport to the everlast- 
ing kingdom. It was sprinkled on the mercy-seat seven times, 
thus showing the fulness of the atonement which Christ made 
for all who accept His mediation in their behalf. The sanctuary 
which Moses built on the earth was only a figure of the true 
sanctuary in heaven. " Now of the things which we have 
spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set 
on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which 
the Lord pitched, and not man." 16 

As the sanctuary on the earth was made after the pattern of 
the sanctuary in heaven, we conclude that the one in heaven 
must have the true mercy-seat. It must have in it the ark and 
the law of God. There must also be the holy and most holy 
places. The one on earth had only the blood of animals to 
offer for the sinner, "but Christ being come an high priest of 
good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, 
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither 
by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He 
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal 
redemption for us." 17 

As the blood of the goat was offered in the earthly sanctuary 
on the day of atonement, so the blood of Christ is offered for 
the sins of the people in the heavenly sanctuary. The sins thus 

16 Heb. 8 :i, 2. " Chapter 9:11, 12. 



THE SANCTUARY AND ITS SERVICE. 8 1 

confessed He blots out forever, and His people go free in the 
judgment. Christ does the full and final work for His people in 
the heavenly sanctuary. He offers His blood on the true 
rnercy-seat in heaven for all who confess Him and forsake their 
sins. He does this for all who believe and who have believed, 
from the days of Abel down to the end of the world. And of 
course this final work must be done just as He is finishing up 
His priesthood work in the heavenly sanctuary; that is, in the 
antitypical day of atonement. This is the beginning of the 
great judgment day. 

THE SCAPEGOAT. 

Besides the goat whose blood was taken into the sanctuary 
and offered on the mercy-seat on the day of atonement, there 
was another goat offered. That other goat was called the 
scapegoat. This goat was not slain, but after the blood of the 
other goat had been offered to cleanse the sanctuary of the sins 
of the people, then the scapegoat was presented alive before the 
sanctuary. Then the high priest placed all the sins of the 
people that had been confessed during the year just closed upon 
the scapegoat. "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the 
head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of 
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send 
him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness; and the 
goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not 
inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness." 18 

The scapegoat represented some one who must receive the 
sins of God's people on his head after Christ has atoned for 

18 Lev. 16 : 21, 22. 
6 



82 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

them. Who is here represented? — It is some one who receives 
back the sins of the believer upon his own head. Who is it 
that has been tempting God's people to sin all these years ? 
Who caused Adam and Eve to lose Paradise? — It was Satan 
who brought sin into this world, and he is partner in every sin 
that the people of God ever committed. Ought he not to have 
all their sins placed upon his head at last? Jesus has atoned 
for His people's part of these iniquities; but Satan has been too 
stubborn to ask for mercy, too proud to confess his sins. Who, 
then, will atone for Satan's part in the transgressions? — No one. 
He will have to suffer for that himself. The goodness and 
justice of God will not let the worst sinner go free, and then 
bring the others to judgment. The scapegoat, then, certainly 
was brought in to represent Satan, and to show that his part of 
the sins of God's people will come back upon his own head, 
after the people of God have all been judged, and are free from 
sin forever. Let none who read this be like Satan, too proud 
to confess sin, and too stubborn to forsake it. 








FROM THE SEA TO CANAAN. 




HE little food which the people carried out of Egypt 
was soon consumed, and then with one accord they 
murmured against Moses and Aaron. They said, 
"Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord 
in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we 
did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this 
wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." 1 But, not- 
withstanding their impatience, the Lord supplied them with manna 
from heaven, which continued to fall every day, except on the 
Sabbath, for forty years. They prepared it for the table, and 
the psalmist says, "Man did eat angels' food." 2 

The minds of the people while in Egypt had been darkened 
with idolatry, so when Moses remained in the mountain away 
from the camp many days, they asked that gods be made to lead 

1 Ex. 16:3. 2 Ps. 78:25. 

(83) 



8 4 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION". 



them. Speaking to Aaron, they said: "Up, make us gods, which 
shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought 
us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot [know] not what is 
become of him." 3 Aaron yielded to their request, and prepared 
a golden calf from the earrings and jewelry of the people. 

When the people beheld the image, they 
cried out, "These be thy gods, O 
Israel, which brought thee up 
out of the land of Egypt." 
They then offered sacrifices to 
the golden calf, and went 
through the shameful orgies 
of heathen sun-worship; for 
the calf was a rep- 
resentation of the 
Egyptian sun-god 
Apis. They were 
in the midst of this 
daring act, dancing 
and praising the vir- 
tues of the calf which 
Aaron had made, 
when Moses returned to the camp. He soon ground the god 
to powder, and their festival was turned into a scene of mourn- 
ing for their folly. 

But the heart of Moses was touched with a desire to see the 
people reform, and he earnestly prayed for them, and said: "Oh, 
this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods 
of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, 

3 Ex. 32 : 1. 




These 
deluded 
people of- 
fered sacri- 
fices to the golden calf. 



S3^ 




FROM THE SEA TO CANAAN. 85 

blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written."' 
But the Lord said unto Moses: "Whosoever hath sinned against 
Me, him will I blot out of My book. Therefore now go, lead 
the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee; 
behold, Mine angel shall go before thee; nevertheless in the day 
when I visit I will visit their sin upon them." 5 Yet they 
remained near Mount Sinai one year, preparing the sanctuary, 
and getting ready to march toward the land of Canaan. 

When the children of Israel left Egypt there was not a feeble 
one among them, 6 although the men numbered more than six 
hundred thousand. 7 The cloudy pillar was a covering from the 
sun's hot rays by day, and a light in the camp by night. It led 
them when they marched, and rested over the tabernacle when 
camped; 8 their clothes did not become old, nor wear out; 9 they 
were fed from heaven, 10 and the waters ran in dry places like a 
river to quench their thirst. u The Lord did all these things, as 
He said, "that they might observe His statutes, and keep His 
laws." 12 

But with food and clothing, health and shelter, all provided 
by the Lord, they were not satisfied. "Yea, they despised the 
pleasant land, they believed not His word; but murmured in 
their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord." 13 
They complained, and frequently murmured, "because they 
believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation; though 
He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the 
doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, 
and had given them of the corn of heaven." " 

They moved slowly northward from Sinai, and came to the 

4 Ex. 32 : 31, 32. 7 Num. 2:32. 10 Ex. 16:4. 13 Ps. 106 : 24, 25. 

5 Verses 33, 34. 8 Ps. 105 : 39; Neh. 9 : 12. " Ps. 105 : 41. u Ps. 78 : 22-24. 
6 Ps. 105 '• 37. 9 Deut. 29 : 5. 12 Verse 45. 



86 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

borders of Canaan in about one year — about two years from the 
time they left Egypt. And from Kadesh Moses sent twelve 
men, one from each tribe, into the promised land, to see the 
country and the people. As these men approached the camp on 
their return, two of them bore a large bunch of grapes between 
them, on a pole. They also carried figs and pomegranates to 
show to the people what goodly fruit the land produced. The 
two who brought this fruit were Caleb and Joshua. In speak- 
ing of the land, Caleb said, "Let us go up at once, and possess 
it; for we are well able to overcome it." 15 

But ten of the twelve spies gave an evil report of the land. 
They declared it was "a land that eateth up the inhabitants 
thereof;" that all the people they saw were "men of great stature," 
and the cities were "walled and very great;" that some of the 
Canaanites were so large that the men of Israel were only 
as grasshoppers in comparison to them. Their advice was for 
Israel to return into Egypt, because they never would be able 
to take possession of Canaan. Their report caused discourage- 
ment in all the camp of Israel, and the people wept aloud all 
night. In bitterness they cried and said: "Would God that we 
had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this 
wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto 
this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children 
should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let 
us return into Egypt." 16 

How foolish men become when they depend upon them- 
selves for help! What difference did it make if the men in 
Canaan were giants, and their cities were strong? Was not 

15 Num. 13:30. "Chapter 14:2-4. 



FROM THE SEA TO CANAAN. 



87 



God able to give victory to those who trusted in him ? But 
when the people ceased to confide in the Lord, they became 
helpless. In the darkness of their minds, Israel declared that 
they would rather die in the wilderness than to go forward into 
Canaan. So the Lord told them that they could return into the 
wilderness, for there they 
had chosen to go. "As truly 
as I live, saith the Lord, 
as ye have spoken in mine 
ears, so will I do to 
you; your carcasses shall 
fall in this wilderness, 
and all that were 
numbered of you, 
according to your 
whole number, from 
twenty years old and 
upward, which have 
murmured against 
Me, doubtless ye 
shall not come into 
the land, concerning 
which I sware to 
make you dwell there- 
in, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of 
Nun." 17 

Their trouble- came because they did not believe what God 
had promised to do for them. It will always be so with those 
who refuse to trust the Lord. "To whom sware He that they 




And Moses lifted up his hand, and With his rod he 
smote the rock twice." 



17 Num. 14 : 28-30. 



88 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? 
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." 18 
They remained in the wilderness for a period of forty years, dur- 
ing which time they were instructed in the way of the Lord by 
Moses and Aaron. Near the end of their long sojourn in the 
wilderness, they were again led to Kadesh, on the borders of the 
promised land. This time they found no water at the place; 
and they murmured once more against Moses and Aaron. 
They declared that these men had deceived the people, and 
that none of the promises which they had made to them had 
been fulfilled. 

"And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together 
before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; 
must we fetch you water out of this rock ? And Moses lifted up 
his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice." 19 For the 
unkind and presumptuous words of Moses and Aaron, and 
because Moses smote the rock when he was only commanded 
to speak to it, the Lord said these men could not lead Israel 
into the land of Canaan. Still the rock sent forth an abundant 
supply of good water. 

From Kadesh the children of Israel were led to Mount Hor. 
At this place Aaron died, being one hundred and twenty-three 
years of age. His son Eleazer was then made high priest in 
his father's stead. 

Leaving Mount Hor, Moses led the people in a circuit 
round Mount Seir, and finally camped on the east side of the 
River Jordan, opposite the city of Jericho. Moses knew that 
the time had come for him to give up the work of his life, yet 
he had not reached the land which he had longed to see. He 

18 Heb. 3: 18, 19. 19 Num. 20: 10, 11. 



FROM THE SEA TO CANAAN 



8 9 



had arrived at the age of one hundred and twenty years, yet his 
natural strength had not abated nor were his eyes dimmed. 
For eighty years he had endured suffering and hardships in 
trying to make his people free and happy. In all that time 

he complained not, except when he 
smote the rock at Kadesh. He had 
given up a kingdom and its riches for 
the cause which he loved. But after 
all, he died without seeing his hopes 
fulfilled. He humbly confessed his 
wrong, and knew that he was for- 
given. The presence of Christ had 
been his strength all those 
years, and he was not left 
alone in his last hours. 

Joshua was selected to 
lead Israel to the prom- 
ised land; and when all 
things were arranged, the 
Lord called Moses up 
into Mount Nebo, to the 
hill of Pisgah. There in 
vision Moses beheld the 
promised land in all its 
beauty, but he was told 
that he could not then go over to possess it. "So Moses the 
servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according 
to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in 
the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth 
of his sepulcher unto this day." 20 

20 Deut. 34 : 5, 6. 




There in Vision Moses beheld the promised 
land in all its beauty. 



90 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION, 



JOSHUA BECOMES LEADER. 



Israel mourned for Moses thirty days, and then the Lord 
called Joshua to take his place as leader. Said the Lord, "Be 
strong and of a good courage; for unto this people shalt thou 
divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their 
fathers to give them." 21 But before crossing Jordan, Israel 
must again be tested. Joshua sent two spies into Canaan, who 
soon returned full of courage. They said the Lord had given 
the country into their hands, for the Canaanites were fainting 
with fear because of Israel. 

When all was ready to cross over Jordan, a number of 
priests, bearing the ark of the Lord, led the way to the river. 
That stream was then overflowing its banks; but as soon as the 
priests' feet touched the river's brink, the water above them 
stood still, and that below ran off down the stream. In this way 
the river became dry below where the priests stood, and the peo- 
ple marched through its bed on dry ground. The priests 
remained in the middle of the Jordan until all the people had 
crossed over. Twelve men were selected to carry twelve stones 
out of the river where the priest's feet stood firm. These stones 
were made into a monument in Gilgal. This monument stood 
as a memorial to Israel, to remind them of how the Lord opened 
up the river for them to pass into the promised land. 

When the Canaanites heard how the Lord had opened 
Jordan for Israel to pass over, they were filled with dread. 
They knew that the idol gods which they worshiped could not 
hold rivers in their course. Only He who had made the waters 
could control them. But they had given themselves over to 

"Joshua i : 6. 



o 

m 

c: 

rn 

G_ 

o 




FROM THE SEA TO CANAAN. 9 1 

idolatries until the very land was sick of them. In speaking of 
the wickedness of the heathen, the Lord said of them, "The land 
is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the 
land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." 25 

When Israel crossed over the river, they found food to satisfy 
all their needs, so the manna ceased. Then Israel's real Leader, 
who all the while had been in the cloudy pillar, was seen by 
Joshua standing near the city of Jericho. In His hand was a 
drawn sword, and Joshua, coming near, asked Him on which side 
He was enlisted. And He said, "As captain of the host of the 
Lord am I now come.'" 23 Through the strength of this mighty 
One Joshua led Israel to victory and gave them possession of 
the land. 

On a certain day, as they were advancing in their conquest", 
an aged man presented himself before Joshua, and, standing in 
his presence, claimed Hebron for an inheritance. He told 
Joshua that he had been in that land forty-five years before that 
time, and was ready then to take possession of it, but his 
brethren would not go. Joshua remembered it all, for it was 
Caleb who stood before him. Joshua and Caleb were all who 
remained of the six hundred thousand men who left Egypt. In 
a short speech Caleb said: "Forty years old was I when Moses 
the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to espy 
out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine 
heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made 
the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the Lord my 
God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land 
whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and 
thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the 

22 Lev. 18 : 25. j:! Joshua 5 : 14. 



92 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Lord thy God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, 
as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake 
this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in 
the wilderness; and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five 
years old. And yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day 
that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even so is my 
strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now 
therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that 
day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, 
and that the cities were great and fenced; if so be the Lord will 
be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord 
said. 

So Hebron was given to Caleb. The very things that had 
alarmed the unbelieving spies forty-five years before, the Lord 
overcame at last through this man, who was eighty-five years 
old. Caleb did not request Joshua to send an army to take 
Hebron for him. He only asked the privilege of going himself 
against the giants. He went with his tribe and conquered. He 
was a man of faith, and forty-five years of murmuring among 
his brethren had not discouraged him, nor changed his purpose. 

Joshua led Israel faithfully till they were settled in the land. 
He did not seize on some beautiful home for himself, but waited 
until the people were all located. After that, the record says, 
"When they had made an end of dividing the land for inherit- 
ance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance 
to Joshua the son of Nun among them." 5 Israel then had a 
national inheritance in the land; yet they were there only to be a 
lig-ht to the world. Their mission was to give the Word of God 
to others, and so bring about the fulfilment of God's promise to 
all the nations and families on the earth. 

24 Joshua 14 : 7-12. 2:> Chapter 19 : 49. 



FROM THE SKA TO CANAAN. 



93 



The history of Israel in their travels from Egypt to Canaan, 
serves as a lesson to the people of God at all times, but it is of 
special significance in these last days. Paul says, "All these 
things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written 
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are 
come." That people left Egypt with great hope, expecting 
soon to reach the promised land; but they were not acquainted 
with their own hearts. Their sinful natures led them into a 
thousand troubles. Had they received every promise of God 
in fulness of faith, and moved forward without murmuring, 
victory would have been assured at every step. But unbelief 
caused them to murmur at all their trials. It darkened their 
minds and shut out the light of God. The Lord was ready to 
keep them in all their journeyings, but they did not believe His 
word. Had they constantly looked in faith to the Lord, they 
would have shouted in triumph at every step where they 
mourned defeat. As it was, only Caleb and Joshua, out of six 
hundred thousand men who left Egypt, reached the land of 
promise. 

20 1 Cor. 10 : ii. 




V! 






$ 




ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 




OSHUA arranged for Israel to be governed by their 
elders and priests, and the priests were to be directed 
by the Lord. The people were advised not to leave 
the heathen to dwell in the land. Said the Lord: 
"Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against 
Me." 1 "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy 
daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt 
thou take unto thy son. . . . Ye shall destroy their altars 
and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and 
burn their graven images with fire." 2 

In many places temples had been erected for Baal, the great 
sun-god. And near to Baal were smaller images to represent 
lesser gods of the heathen. A number of idols near together 
are called a "grove," or Asherim. Baal was the chief god; 
Baalim meant the company of small gods. But Israel did not 

1 Ex. 23 : 32, 33. 2 Deut. 7 : 3-5. 

(94) 



ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 95 

destroy all the Canaanites when they located among them; they 
also left many images standing. Then the Lord sent an angel 
to say to thern: "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have 
brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and 
I said, I will never break My covenant with you. And ye shall 
make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw 
down their altars; but ye have not obeyed My voice; why have 
ye done this?" 3 Israel, hearing these words, wept over their 
negligence, yet left things without a change. 

Altho the older people did not depart from the Lord during 
the lifetime of Joshua and those who had served with him, 4 yet 
as their children grew up, the psalmist says they "were mingled 
among the heathen, and learned their works." 5 "And the chil- 
dren of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites; . . . and they 
took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters 
to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of 
Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord 
their God, and served Baalim and the groves." 6 

Yet they did not all at once become idolaters, for often only 
one tribe, or a part of one tribe, departed from God. Then 
judges Would be raised up to deliver them from the power of 
the heathen. So the people continued to be ruled in this 
manner for more than three hundred years after the death of 
Joshua. 

Their fathers had agreed at Sinai to let the Lord govern 
them, therefore the kingdom was the Lord's. But Satan tried 
all the while to turn the government away from the Lord. 
When the Lord raised up judges who put down idol worship, 

? Judges 2:1, 2. ' Chapter 2:7. 5 Ps. 106 : 35. 6 Judges 3 : 5-7. 



96 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Satan tempted the people to demand a king. This they finally 
did in the days of the prophet Samuel. 

This man Samuel had judged Israel many years, and in his 
day all the lands had been restored to Israel which their enemies 
had taken from them. But Samuel had by consent of the peo- 
ple appointed his sons to assist him in the work of judging 
Israel, and they proved to be very covetous. So evil men 
bribed them to give wrong judgment, and sometimes they 
punished the innocent and let the guilty go free. 

THEY ASK A KING. 

Such conduct on the part of Samuel's sons gave Israel an 
excuse to ask for a king. Therefore the elders said to Samuel, 
"Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now 
make us a king to judge us like all the nations." 7 But Samuel 
spoke plainly of the evils which would befall them when they 
became like other nations. "Nevertheless the people refused 
to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will 
have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; 
and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and 
fight our battles." 8 Then the Lord told Samuel to make them 
a king, but also told him to say to the people, "Ye have this 
day rejected your God, who Himself saved you out of all your 
adversities and your tribulations." 9 

Then Samuel anointed Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin. He 
reigned over Israel forty years, but did evil most of the time. 
Saul became so wicked that he could get no word from the Lord 
in any way. He then visited a witch and had her call up an 

7 1 Sam. 8:5. 8 Chapter 8:19, 20. 9 Chapter 10:19. 



ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 97 

evil spirit that he might talk with it. 10 In this way Satan 
managed to commune with the king of Israel. Yet Saul 
thought he was talking with Samuel, who was then dead and 
buried. Thus the king was made to believe the same falsehood 
which was told to Eve in the Garden of Eden, — that is, that 
man does not die, but becomes a god. The woman told Saul 
that she saw gods coming up out of the earth, and that one was 
an old man covered with a mantle, "and Saul perceived that it 
was Samuel." n Yet it was not Samuel, but a lying spirit pre- 
tending to be Samuel, directed by Satan himself. Saul was 
told some truth, because Satan's object is to have man believe 
that the spirits of the dead can talk with the people on the 
earth. This teaching is the very foundation of all idolatry, and 
the reason why offerings were made for the dead. 

Who then was worshiped in heathen offerings? Let Paul 
answer, "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, 
they sacrifice to devils, and not to God." 12 When Israel joined 
with them in their idolatry, "they sacrificed their sons and their 
daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood 
of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto 
the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood." 13 
The next king after Saul was David, from the tribe of Judah. 
He reigned forty years. In the days of David, Jerusalem began 
to be an important city. During his reign all Israel were united 
and idolatry was suppressed. 

After David came Solomon, the son of David, who also 
reigned over all Israel forty years. "God gave Solomon 
wisdom and' understanding exceeding much, and largeness of 
heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's 

10 1 Sam. 28: 7. u Verses 13, 14. 12 1 Cor. 10 : 20. - 13 Ps. 106 : 37, 38. 

7 



98 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east 
country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than 
all men." 14 Solomon's understanding was such that all the 
kings of the earth sought him for the wisdom which God had 
given him. 15 Solomon was then doing what the Lord desired 
Israel to do all the time; that is, he was teaching the nations 
the truth. He built the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, and 
brought the ark of God and all the vessels of the sanctuary into the 
temple, and dedicated them to the Lord. After that the service 
of the sanctuary was carried on in the temple. In the first half 
of Solomon's reign the kingdom of Israel reached its highest 
point of glory. 

But Satan overcame the wisest king by causing him to 
marry idolatrous wives. "For it came to pass, when Solomon 
was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; 
and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the 
heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth 
the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination 
of the Ammonites. . . . Then did Solomon build a high 
place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is 
before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the 
children of Amnion." 16 It seems that he did all this to please 
the idolaters. He was a great lover of peace, and early in his 
reign he made a covenant of peace with Pharaoh king of Egypt. 
Besides Egypt, Solomon united with his court, Moab, Edom, 
Zidon, Ammon, and many other countries. All praised and 
flattered Solomon, and continued to do so until he was old. 
Then his wives, who were idolaters before they came to his 
court, persuaded him to build these places of idol-worship for 

« 

u 1 Kings 4 : 29-3: . 15 See 2 Chron. 9 : 23. 16 1 Kings 11 : 4-7. 



ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 99 

them. "Among many nations was there no king like him, who 
was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; 
nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin." 17 

When Solomon yielded to idolatry the Lord told him that 
the kingdom should be divided after his death, and ten tribes 
given to his servant, Jeroboam. Solomon endeavored to 
destroy Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt and remained there 
until Solomon was dead. Before his death, however, Solomon 
repented of his sins, and in his declining years wrote the book 
of Ecclesiastes. 

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam expected to be made 
king overall Israel. But the people sent to Egypt for Jeroboam, 
and when he returned they called Solomon's son and requested him 
to make the burdens of the people lighter than Solomon had done. 
But in reply he said they should be much heavier. Therefore, ten 
tribes made Jeroboam their king, while Rehoboam had only the 
tribe of Judah and such of the other tribes as dwelt in the land 
of Judah. He seems also to have had a part of Benjamin, 18 and 
a large part of the tribe of Levi, as they had charge of the 
sanctuary service at Jerusalem. 

Jeroboam led the ten tribes into idolatry. He made two 
golden calves, and set one up in Bethel and the other in Dan. 
He then told the people that it was too far for them to go to 
Jerusalem to worship, and that the images which he made repre- 
sented the gods which had brought them up out of Egypt. 19 
He built temples for these idols, and ordained feasts for the peo- 
ple to offer sacrifices and burnt incense to them. The division 
over which Jeroboam reigned was called the kingdom of Israel. 
That of Rehoboam was known as the kingdom of Judah. 

17 Neh. 13 : 26. 18 2 Chron. 11 : 1. 19 1 Kings 12 : 28. 



IOO THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Jeroboam reigned over Israel twenty-two years, and his entire 
administration was corrupt. 

Nor did Rehoboam do any better for Judah. His mother 
was an idolater, and Solomon had built the god Molech for her 
at Jerusalem. So Rehoboam had probably been an idolater 
before he became king. The result was that "Judah did evil in 
the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with 
their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers 
had done. For they also built them high places, and images, 
and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree." 20 
Yet all the while there were those who mourned because of the 
sins of their brethren. 

When Jeroboam died, his son Nadab reigned two years. 
Then came Baasha for twenty-four years, and Ela two years, 
and Zimri seven days, and Omri twelve years. These five men 
came down the line forty years to Ahab, who reigned over 
Israel twenty-two years. Every one of them was wicked, but 
Ahab was the worst of all. He married Jezebel, the daughter 
of the king of Zidon, and himself and wife went wholly into 
idolatry. "And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of 
Baal, which he had built in Samaria." ' n He then made a whole 
grove of images. "There was none like unto Ahab, which did 
sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom 
Jezebel his wife stirred up." 22 They killed the Lord's people, 
and threw down their altars, and those who worshiped God 
were compelled to hide away in caves, and in the mountains and 
deserts. While these things were going on Elijah the prophet 
prayed for the Lord to withhold rain from Ahab's kingdom, 
and it did not rain for three years and a half. 

20 i Kings 14 : 22, 23. -' Chapter 16: 32. * z Chapter 21 : 25. 




ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 



IOI 



Ahab endeavored to slay Elijah; but the prophet fled, and 
dwelt with a poor widow who had only enough meal and oil to 
make one cake. She would bake the cake, and still there would 
be the same amount of meal left in the barrel. It was the same 
also with the oil in the vessel. Neither the meal nor the oil 
became less while she fed Eli- 
jah; for the Lord created a new 
supply every time they ate. 23 
When the famine was at the 
worst, Elijah showed himself 
to Ahab, and Ahab accused 
Elijah of being the cause of 
all the trouble in Israel. 
But Elijah said that Ahab 
had made the trouble by for- 
saking the commandments 
of God. 24 Jezebel was then 
feeding four hundred and 
fifty priests of Baal, besides 
four hundred priests who served 
in the worship of other gods. 

Ahab and Elijah, with 
the people, agreed that Baal's 
prophets should prepare an of- 
fering to Baal, and that Elijah 

would sacrifice to his God, and the one that answered by send- 
ing fire should be the God that all would worship. 25 Then the 
offerings and altar for Baal were prepared, and Baal's priests 
began their services. They called aloud for Baal to send down 

23 1 Kings 17 : 9-16. 2I Chapter 18 : 17, 18. 25 Verses 19-24. 




'And dwelt With a poor Widow, Who had 
only enough meal and oil to make one 
cake." 



102 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



fire, saying, "O Baal, hear us!' but no answer came. Then 
they called louder, and cut themselves with knives in their 
efforts to procure an answer from Baal; but Baal was not God, 

and he could neither hear 
nor answer them. 

When Baal's priests 
failed, Elijah made an altar 
of twelve stones, and put 
upon it his bullock, and dug 
a trench about it, and poured 
twelve barrels 
of water on the 
wood and in 
the trench. 
Then Elijah, 
pray i ng in 
faithful sim- 
plicity, said: 
"Lord God 
of Abraham, 
Isaac, and of 
Israel, let it be 
known this day 
that Thou art 

God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have 
done all these things at Thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear 
me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God, 
and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." 26 As he 
ceased praying, the fire came down and burnt up the offering, 

* 6 i Kings 18:36, 37. 







"As he ceased praying, the fire came doWn and burnt up the 
offering, the Wood, the stones, and the Water." 



ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 



IO 



the wood, the stones, and the water. Then the people called 
out, saying, "The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the 
God." When the people saw how they had been deceived, 
they destroyed the idolatrous priests from among them. But 
Jezebel's influence soon restored idolatry to power. 




So Was Israel carried a\A/ay out of their own land." 



The kingdom of Israel continued two hundred years after 
Ahab's death, but all of their kings were evil. At last, the 
Lord said that they had rejected all His commandments, and 
had become as other nations in worshiping the sun, the moon, 
and the stars; therefore they should be mingled with them. 
"So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria 



104 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

unto this day. 2 ' Yet the tribes were not wholly destroyed, for 
some of all the twelve were represented in Judah. Two 
hundred years after Ahab and Jezebel built up the worship of 
Baal in Samaria, Manasseh, king of Judah, did the same at 
Jerusalem. He made altars for Baal and a whole assembly of 
false gods, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and observed 
the times set apart to worship these gods, such as Sunday for 
Baal, and the stated feast days for other gods. He also offered 
his own sons in the fire to these gods, until Judah did worse 
than the nations round them. 28 

Manasseh died, and after a two years' reign of his son 
Amon, his grandson Josiah was made king; "and he took away 
the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, . . . 
and burned the chariots of the sun with fire," "and he brake in 
pieces the images, and cut down the groves." 29 But Josiah died, 
and the kingdom of Judah fell back into idolatry again. 

Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took the city of 
Jerusalem, and destroyed many of the people, and carried the 
rulers who escaped death, into the city of Babylon. Also 
many thousands of the inhabitants were carried to Babylon. 
The Babylonians then burned the beautiful temple, and broke 
down the walls of Jerusalem. They also carried the vessels of 
the sanctuary and all the riches of the country to the city of 
Babylon, and left only the poor people to dwell in the land of 
Judah. 

Idolatry was the means which Satan used to destroy both 
Israel and Judah. It was this dreadful curse which desolated 
the beautiful land of promise, and brought sorrow and ignorance 
to millions of homes. Through this means the devil has taught 

iT 2 Kings 17 : 23. 26 Chapter 21 : 4-7. 29 Chapter 23 : 11, 14. 



ISRAEL CARRIED INTO BABYLON. 



I05 



man the most repulsive things that ever corrupted the world. 
Yet in doing so he has only asked the people to worship the 
spirits of dead heroes or friends. But this worship destroys the 
noblest affections of the heart. It causes the mother to rob 
her own bosom, that she may sacrifice her innocent babe to 
appease the wrath of a supposedly angry god. It causes men 
to sacrifice each other in devotion to their gods. It causes the 
poor slave to be killed, that his spirit may go with his dead 
master to the spirit world. It leads the heathen widow to be 
burned or buried alive with her husband, because she has been 
taught that by so doing her spirit will go with his to dwell 
among the gods. May our hearts be guarded well against 
every form of this dreadful foe. 





DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. 




EFORE Israel was carried into Babylon, the prophet 
Jeremiah with agony of soul plead with them to turn 
from their evil ways, saying, "O that my head were 
waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I 
might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my 
people." x But instead of heeding his advice, they cruelly beat 
him, and afterward cast him into prison, where he remained 
until set at liberty by the king of Babylon. 2 

King Johoiakim of Judah and a number of young princes 
were carried to Babylon several years before Jerusalem was 
destroyed. When they were torn away from their friends, it 
was told them by false prophets in Jerusalem that they would 
all be sent home within two years. But Jeremiah wrote to 
them, and in the name of the Lord counseled them to build and 
plant in Babylon, and pray for the peace of the city, because 
they would remain there seventy years. "For thus saith the 
Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I 

1 Jer. 9:1. 2 Chapter 37 : 15-21; 39 : 2-18. 

(106) 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. IO/ 

will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in caus- 
ing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that 
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not 
of evil, to give you an expected end." 3 

Those who were left in Judah became discouraged, and 
many moved into Egypt, leaving the country in desolation. It 
was then that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, in 
which he said: "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of 
people!" "All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have 
given their pleasant things for meat." "For these things I 
weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water."* 

While the prophet wept, his people mourned in Babylon. 
Their sadness is told in these plaintive words: " By the rivers of 
Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered 
Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst 
thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required 
of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, 
saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing 
the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusa- 
lem, let my right hand forget her cunning." Being homesick 
they could not play, and when asked to sing, they could not do 
that, because Zion's songs only made them remember the land 
whence they came. So they hung their harps upon the willows 
to rest, while they cried for home and liberty. 

When the young princes were taken to Babylon, Nebu- 
chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, selected the most promising 
among them to be taught in all the learning of the Babylonians, 
with the intention of making them officers in his kingdom. 
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were the names of the 

3 Jer. 29 : 10, 11. * Lam. 1 : 1, 11, 16. 5 Ps. 137 : 1-5. 



io8 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



men chosen. As their names showed relationship to the true 
God, they were to correspond to various gods of Babylon, 
evidently in hope that the young men would forget the true 
God and worship the gods of Babylon. Daniel was called 

Belteshazzar, Hananiah was named Sha- 
drach, Mishael was called Meshach, and 
Azariah's name was changed to Abed-nego. 

The king appointed 
with their daily food 
both flesh and wine. 
"But Daniel purposed 
in his heart that he 
would not defile him- 
self with the portion of 
the king's meat, nor 
with the wine which he 
drank." 6 In kindness 
the prince who had 
them in charge allowed 
them to make their own 
choice of food, and they 
selected a plain diet. 
So for three years they 
studied hard, but refused to eat flesh, and drank only water. On 
examination they were found to be ten times wiser than those 
students who ate flesh and drank wine. 

Soon after they had been examined, King Nebuchadnezzar 
was given a remarkable dream, of which he wished to know the 
meaning. He therefore called in his idolatrous wise men, and 




"Nebuchadnezzar Was greatly impressed With the 
interpretation of the dream." 



(i Dan. 1:8. 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. IO9 

demanded of them to make known the dream and its meaning. 
As they could not do it, he ordered that all the wise men in 
Babylon be put to death. Now as Daniel and his companions 
had been pronounced the wisest men in all the kingdom, they 
were arrested to be slain with the others. But as the Hebrew 
men had not before heard of the dream, they were given time 
to seek the Lord for an understanding; and as they prayed, the 
Lord made it all known to Daniel. He then told the dream and 
its interpretation to the satisfaction of the king. 

In his dream the king was shown a large image in the form 
of a man. Its head was of fine gold, the breast and arms were 
silver, brass composed its sides and thighs, the legs were of 
iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay. While in his 
dream the king beheld the image, a stone cut out without hands 
was seen to smite it upon the feet and break it to pieces. Then 
the iron, the brass, the silver, and the gold all became as 
chaff, and the wind carried them away. After this, the stone 
which smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the 
whole earth. 

THE INTERPRETATION. 

The image represented four great kingdoms which should 
rule the world. The head of gold denoted Babylon; the part 
which was of silver stood as a symbol of the Medes and Per- 
sians, which bore rule next after Babylon. The brass repre- 
sented the Grecian kingdom, which was the third to reign over 
the nations of the earth. The iron and clay in the image was 
an emblem of Rome, the fourth mighty empire. The stone cut 
out without hands, which broke the image to pieces and then 
filled the whole earth, was the kingdom of Christ. 



IIO THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Nebuchadnezzar was greatly impressed with the interpreta- 
tion of the dream. "Then the king made Daniel a great man, 
and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the 
whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all 
the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, 
and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs 
of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the 
king." 7 

But after a time Nebuchadnezzar became dissatisfied with 
Daniel's interpretation of the dream. He did not believe that 
the kingdom of Babylon would be succeeded by another. He 
made a large image, all of the appearance of gold, and com- 
manded everybody to worship it. This image, representing 
Babylon, was doubtless intended to express the thought that 
Babylon would rule the world forever. 

When the image was to be dedicated, Nebuchadnezzar called 
upon all the chief men of his provinces to come and worship it. 
Daniel, himself counted divine, 8 was not there. Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abed-nego were present, but refused to bow to 
the image. The king endeavored to save them, but said that 
they must worship the image or they would be thrown into a 
burning fiery furnace. Still these men positively refused to 
worship the image, and so were bound and thrown alive into the 
heated furnace. The fire was so hot that it destroyed the men 
who cast them in. 

Immediately the king ran up to a point where he could 
behold the result, and there he saw four men loose, walking 
about in the burning flames. Three of them were Shadrach, 
Meshach, and Abed-nego, but the fourth was like the Son of 

7 Dan. 2 : 48, 49. 8 Verse 46. 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. Ill 

God. The trreat Deliverer had come to be with his servants in 
the fiery furnace, and his power kept the flames from burning 
them. In great astonishment, Nebuchadnezzar said to his coun- 
selors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? " 
And they answered, "True, O king." • But said the king, "Lo, 
I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they 
have no hurt." The king wondered to see a man in the furnace 
who had not been placed there by his command, and was also 
greatly surprised that all the men were loose, and walking about 
in the flames, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego had 
been thrown bound into the fire. 

Then Nebuchadnezzar approached near the mouth of the 
burning furnace, and called, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come 
hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth 
of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and 
captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw 
these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a 
hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor 
the smell of fire had passed on them." 9 

When the king and the multitude saw what wonderful 
deliverance God had wrought for His servants, their minds were 
greatly affected in favor of the true God. And Nebuchadnezzar 
said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
nego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that 
trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded 
their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, 
except their own God." 10 

It may be supposed that the golden image was not worshiped 

9 Dan. 3 : 26, 27. 10 Verse 28. 



112 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

again that day, for Nebuchadnezzar said these men had "changed 
the king's word." He there made a decree that nothing 
should be spoken against the God of the Hebrews. By calmly 
trusting in God, these men gained a victory which had been of 
great value to the Redeemer's cause. Through their firmness 
Satan was defeated, and the knowledge of God and his worship 
was made known to many nations. 

Although Nebuchadnezzar was very much affected by the 
deliverance of these men, yet he did not then wholly yield 
himself to the service of the Lord. A few years after that 
event, however, the king, as he viewed the city he had greatly 
enlarged and embellished, and the beauty of its palaces and 
gardens, exclaimed, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built 
for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for 
the honor of my majesty ? " n 

While he was yet speaking these boastful words "there fell a 
voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is 
spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall 
drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts 
of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven 
times [seven years] shall pass over thee, until thou know that 
the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to 
whomsoever He will." 12 

This was fulfilled precisely as it was declared. Nebuchad- 
nezzar lost his reason, and went from his palace, and dwelt in the 
field, and ate grass as an ox, "till his hairs were grown like eagles' 
feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." At the appointed time 
his reason returned, and Nebuchadnezzar ruled again; but he 
was a converted man. He then wrote a letter which was 

11 Dan. 4 : 30. '- Verses 31, 32. 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. I I 3 

addressed to "all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all 
the earth." In this letter he tells of the wonderful way in 
which God has dealt with him. And in the last verse he says, 
"Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King 
of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; 
and those that walk in pride He is able to abase." He had 
learned in the interpretation of the dream God's wisdom. He 
had learned in the deliverance from the furnace God's power. 
But he learned in his own abject humiliation, God's greatness 
and goodness. 

» After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel had a dream, in 
which he was shown the four great kingdoms of the world. 10 
They were presented as wild beasts coming up from the stormy 
sea. Babylon had the appearance of a lion, with the wings of 
an eagle. As he watched its movements, he saw the wings 
plucked out, and it was made to stand on two feet, as a man. 
The kingdom of the Medes and Persians was symbolized by a 
bear. It was lifted up on one side, and had three ribs in its 
mouth, while a voice said to it, "Arise, devour much flesh." 
The power of Grecia was represented by a leopard with four 
heads, and upon its back there were four wings of a fowl. The 
fourth, or the Roman kingdom, was shown under the likeness of 
a dreadful and terrible beast. It had large iron teeth, and nails 
of brass, with which it broke in pieces and devoured the other 
beasts; and it had ten horns. Then another horn was seen to 
come up among them, before which three of the ten horns were 
plucked up. And this horn had eyes as the eyes of a man, and 
a mouth which spoke very great things. 

The interpretation of the dream in brief is this: Babylon— 

13 Dan. 4:1. 14 Verse 37. 13 See chapter 7. 



114 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the kingdom represented by the lion with two wings — was to be 
overcome by the Medes and Persians, which were symbolized 
by the bear with three ribs in its mouth. Daniel had been in 
Babylon about seventy years when Cyrus, a Persian general, 
came with an army and captured the great city, and delivered 
over the kingdom and all its glory to Darius, who was king of 
the Medes. This was done five hundred and thirty-eight years 
before Christ. About two hundred years after Babylon was 
taken by the Medes and Persians, Alexander, of Macedon, or 
Grecia, conquered many people and proclaimed himself ruler 
of the world. He died a short time afterward, and then his 
kingdom, like the leopard in the prophet's dream, was divided 
into four heads, and was governed by four of his generals. 
These ruled till about one hundred and sixty-eight years before 
Christ was born, when Rome conquered the first division of the 
Grecian Empire, and began her subjugation of the world. The 
ten horns on the fourth, or Roman, beast showed that the king- 
dom would be divided into ten parts. And so it was divided 
into ten kingdoms, between the years 351 and 476 b. c. These 
kingdoms are mostly included now in England, France, Ger- 
many, Holland, Hungary, Italy, etc., of Europe. They are in 
existence yet, and will continue in some form of division until 
the end. 

The horn which had eyes, and a mouth speaking great 
things, represented a power which would rule in some way over 
the Roman Empire in its divided state. The angel said this 
power "shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear 
out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change 
the times and the law." 10 But one power in the world meets all 

>« Dan. 7: 25, R. V. 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. I 1 5 

these specifications, namely, the union of church and state 
known as the Papacy. The Papacy has ruled the nations of 
Europe and persecuted all who protested against her tyranny 
until her power to persecute was broken by the influence of the 
great Reformation. Thus the prophet was shown the course 
that earthly kingdoms would take until the end of time. Then 
it was said, "The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey 
im. 

Daniel's faith in his old age. 

When King Darius came to the throne, he appointed an 
hundred and twenty princes to rule, but made Daniel president 
over them. They soon became jealous of Daniel, and agreed to 
work for his destruction. The prophet prayed to the Lord three 
times each day, and the princes knew it. They therefore per- 
suaded Darius to sign a decree to throw any person into the 
den of lions who would pray to any god or man excepting the 
king, for thirty days. 

Daniel knew that the decree was signed, but he continued to 
pray to God as before, three times each day, with his window 
open towards Jerusalem. The princes watched him pray, and 
told the king that Daniel was violating the law. Then Darius 
understood the wickedness of the princes. When he saw their 
evil intentions, he endeavored to save the prophet from the lions. 
But the princes said that he had broken the law and should 
suffer for it. So Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and, 

17 Dan. 7 : 27. 



n6 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



although he remained in the den one whole night, he suffered 
no harm whatever. 

Very early in the morning, after passing the night in fasting 
and sleepless anxiety, the king came and called to Daniel, say- 
ing, "Is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver 
thee from the lions ? " Then Daniel 
answered, "My God hath sent his 
angel, and hath shut the lions' 
mouths, that they have not hurt 
me." 18 Daniel was 
then taken from 
the den, and the 
men who had ac- 
cused him were 
thrown in and de- 
stroyed by the 
lions. 

Darius reigned 
but a few years in 
Babylon, and then 
Cyrus the Persian 
became king. As 

soon as he was on the throne he ordered the temple at Jeru- 
salem to be rebuilt, and about fifty thousand Israelites moved 
from Babylon to Jerusalem that same year. More than a hun- 
dred years before Cyrus was born, the Lord had called him by 
name, and said of him, "He is My shepherd, and shall perform 
all My pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; 
and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." 

18 Dan. 6 : 20-22. 19 Isa. 44 : 28, 




"Then Daniel answered, 'My God hath sent His 
angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have 
not hurt me.' " 



1 



DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON. I I J 

Cyrus must have learned from the Scriptures what he should 
do, for he said the Lord had charged him to build the temple at 
Jerusalem. 20 He restored to the prince of Judah all the vessels 
of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had carried 
away from Jerusalem, and also arranged for much of the expense 
of building the temple. 21 The people began with good courage 
to build, yet their enemies opposed the work most bitterly, and 
when Cyrus died, they caused its cessation altogether. But 
another Darius was made king, and he wrote a new order for 
the work to go forward, and in closing he said, "I Darius have 
made a decree; let it be done with speed." The temple was 
finished in a few years after this order was given, and the suc- 
cessor of Darius, named Artaxerxes, empowered Ezra to estab- 
lish officers in all Judah according to the law of God. He 
also gave to that people as great liberty and freedom as they 
enjoyed under their kings. 

The kings of Babylon robbed and burned Jerusalem and 
the temple, and destroyed the country, while they tore the 
people away from their homes. But when the Persian kings 
came to the throne, they sent the people home, gave back their 
treasures, built up their temple and city, and made Judah a free 
province. Thus the Jews were once more given possession of 
their city and country. They had learned that all their afflic- 
tions came upon them because of idolatry and Sabbath-breaking. 
Therefore they became very strict about these things after they 
came out of Babylon. 

20 Ezra 1:2. 21 Chapter 6: 4. "Verse 12. 




THE SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. 



BOUT four thousand years after Adam and Eve left 
Paradise, the Son of God, our Saviour, came into 
^/M§ \§| our WO rld as an infant. We have learned of the 
promise which God made when man fell, that the 
Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. We have 
also read of the faith of Noah and Abraham, of Isaac and 
Jacob, and how all the children of God, from Adam to Christ, 
looked for the Redeemer. 

One of the prophets had said that Immanuel (Christ) should 
be born of a virgin; 1 another had told that His birth would be 
in Bethlehem of Judah; 2 and still another testified that He 
should descend from David/ Mary, His mother, was a virgin 
when the angel Gabriel said to her, "That holy thing which shall 
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 4 



Hsa. 7 : 14. 

(us) 



2 Micah s : 2. 



Ps. 89:35-37. 



4 Luke 1:34, 35. 



THE SAVIOUR OX THE EARTH. 



119 



These scriptures were all fulfilled in the birth of Christ. 
His family record according- to the flesh runs in a direct line 
back through David and Abraham to Adam. At the time He 
was born, His nation, who were then called Jews, were under 

the dominion of the Romans, 
and Rome had decreed that all 
the world should be taxed. 
So every Jew was compelled 
to go to the place where his 
family lineage was kept, to 
have his name enrolled for 
taxation; for the children of 
Israel always held title in 
the land of their parents. 

Because of this de- 
cree Joseph and Mary 
- went from Nazareth, 
in Galilee, to Bethle- 
hem of Judea, the 
former home of King 
David, to be enrolled; 
for they belonged to 
David's family. But 
so many had come to the same place that there was no room 
for them in the public lodging-house, or inn, so Mary and 
Joseph lodged in a large cave used as a stable. While they 
were there, the child Jesus was born. His first garments were 
swaddling-clothes, and His cradle was a manger. 5 

What a wonderful sight was that! The infant Son of God 

5 Luke 2 : 1-7. 




First one angel 
came, and the bright 
glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds.' 



120 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

taking His first sleep in human form, cradled in a manger! No 
one on the earth, save Joseph and Mary, knew who the little 
One in the manger was. But the angels of heaven knew, for 
He came down from heaven. 6 So angels came to earth to 
make known to men that the Redeemer was born. They 
selected some shepherds who were watching their flocks by 
night, and to them they told the story. First one angel came, 
and the bright glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds; 
and the men trembled in alarm. "And the angel said unto 
them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And 
this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in 
swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger." Then "a multitude of 
the heavenly host" suddenly united with the one angel, and they 
all sang together, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good-will toward men." 

When the angels ascended again into heaven, the men went 
to Bethlehem, and there they found the babe in the manger. 
And when they had seen Jesus, they went abroad and told of 
the visit and song of the angels, and of the child which was 
wrapped in swaddling-clothes. But few would believe their 
story, few would believe that the Saviour of men was then an 
infant, born and cradled in a manger. To tell the good news 
farther away, a shining star appeared to wise men in the East. 
These men had studied the Scriptures, and understood the 
meaning of the star; so they started out to find the One whose 
appearance they believed to be thus indicated. Coming to 
Jerusalem, they naturally expected to learn all about the new- 

,; John 6 : 38. ' Luke 2 : 10-12. 



THE SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. 



121 



born Kino-, and sought Kino- Herod to ask him where the child 
could be found. Through their visit Herod learned of the place 
where Christ should be born The Jews had taught that Christ 
would be made king in Jerusalem, so Herod determined to 
destroy the child whom he supposed was born to be king of the 
Jews. He therefore sent sol- 
diers to Bethlehem and slew all 
the children from two 
years old and under. 




And they "fled into Egypt With the babe.' 1 



But an angel had warned Joseph and Mary of Herod's 
wicked plan, and they had fled into Egypt with the babe. 
Herod was so jealous because of the birth of another king that 
he did not search to find Him at all, but destroyed all the chil- 
dren in the place, thinking that certainly the one he specially 
wanted to put out of the way was among them. This was the 
way the world received Christ at His birth. 



122 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

When Herod was dead, Joseph and Mary returned from 
Egypt to Nazareth in Galilee, and dwelt there. "And the child 
grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the 
grace of God was upon Him." "And Jesus increased in wisdom 
and stature, and in favor with God and man." 8 Yet He quietly 
worked in Nazareth at the carpenter's trade, as the son of Joseph 
and Mary, till He was thirty years old. 9 

But when the appointed time came for His mission to be 
made known to Israel, John the Baptist was sent to prepare the 
people to receive their Saviour. "As it is written in the 
prophets, Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, 
which shall prepare Thy way before Thee." 10 John proved from 
the Scriptures that the time had come for the Redeemer to 
appear on the earth; and all who lived in Jerusalem and the 
regions about Jordan came to hear him. Many confessed their 
sins to God, and were baptized in the river Jordan. 

Jesus knew of the preaching of John, and He also came to 
be baptized of him, when a great many people were present. It 
was also at a time when multitudes were anxious to see Jesus, 
and were even wondering if John himself were not the Messiah. 
But when Christ came to be baptized, "John forbade Him, say- 
ing, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to 
me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so 
now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then 
he suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went 
up straightway out of the water; and, lo, the heavens were 
opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending 
like a dove, and lighting upon Him; and lo a voice from heaven, 
saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 

8 Luke 2:40, 52. 9 Chapter 3: 23. 10 Mark 1 \i\ see also Mai. 3: 1. 

11 Matt. 3: 14-17. 



>> 11 



THE SAVIOUR OX THE EARTH. 



123 



When the Spirit descended upon Jesus, the thousands of 
Israel who were present heard the witness of John, who testified 
to them that he had then baptized the Redeemer. John, in 
speaking of this event, says, " I saw, and bare record that this 
is the Son of God." 12 The great men were there — the scribes, 




A Ford on the River (Jordan. 



and Pharisees, and the multitude. All either saw the Spirit 
descend, or else they heard the words of John when he intro- 
duced the Saviour to them. Yet the Jews would not receive 
Him, because they expected a great king for their Messiah, one 
who would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule all the nations 

12 John 1 134. 



U.i THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

of the earth. But Jesus, whom John had baptized, was a poor 
laboring man, and they were too proud to own Him as their 
Saviour. He was humble and meek, and that did not suit their 
proud hearts. "He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we 
shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from 
Him." 13 After the baptism of Christ, He was led by the Spirit 
of God into the wilderness to be tempted cf the devil. 

God had "created all things by Jesus Christ," 14 but the 
Redeemer left the glory of heaven and came to this world to 
save sinners. He became a poor, suffering man, for the purpose 
of being tempted in every way that man is tempted. We may 
not be able to understand how the Son of God could come to 
our world in the form of man, and suffer and be tempted as we 
are; but we can believe it, for thus saith the Scriptures. 

Of Him it is written: "All things were made by Him; and 
without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him 
was life; and the life was the lio-ht of men." 10 " In the'beoq'nnin^ 
was the Word, and the, Word was with God, and the Word was 
God." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." K 
And again it is written, " He was in the world, and the world 
was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." 17 "Who, 
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon 
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness 

r" 18 
men. 

Paul, writing of how Christ left the riches of heaven and 

13 Isa. 53 : 2, 3. i: ' Jchn 1 : 3, 4. I7 Verse 10. 

14 Eph. 3:9. 1,; Verses 1, 14. 18 Phil. 2 : 6, 7. 



THK SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. 



125 



came to this world, says, " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became 
poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 19 "In all 
things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, 

that He might be a mer- 
ciful and faithful High 
Priest in things pertain- 
ing to God, to make rec- 
onciliation for the 
sins of the people. 
For in that He 



■ 




Two Young Girls of 
Bethlehem. 

Pilgrims Entering Beth 

lehem on Christmas 

Day. 



Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them 
that are tempted." 20 

In these great facts is the assurance of our triumph. He 
"whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," 21 
vet who was born a brother in the flesh, in little "Bethlehem 
of judah,"" did this all for us. He suffered for us; He was 

19 2 Cor. 8 : 9. 20 Heb. 2:17, iS. - 1 Micah 5 : 2. -- Matt. 2 : 1. 



126 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

tempted in our behalf; He triumphed for us, in order that we, 
in suffering and temptation, by simple faith, might conquer in 
Him. For is it not written: " Surely He hath borne our griefs, 
and carried our sorrows. . . . He was wounded for our 
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we 
are healed"? 23 

Thus the Son of God left heaven and came to our world to 
live as a man, and to work and suffer as we do. And " He was 
tempted in all points like as we are." If He could obey God in 
all points, in spite of the trials which Satan would place before 
Him, then He would have the victory over sin. The victory 
_ was to be gained for every one of Adam's race. Whether man 
would accept it or not, the Son of God would fight the battle 
for all, He would win it for all. 

Just how these temptations came to Him we do not know. 
The record in Matthew and Luke tells us of but three tempta- 
tions, and those at the close of His forty days' fast. These 
temptations were comprehensive, involving the principles of all 
temptations without and within ; but these were not all. " He 
was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan." At 
the close of this period Satan again besieged Him with the 
strongest temptations of all. As Adam and nearly all the race 
had failed on the point of appetite, Jesus began His trial with 
fasting, and the last temptations of Satan came to Him when 
He was weak from want of food. 

'And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He 
was afterward a-huneered." Then Satan told Him to command 
the stones to be made bread, to satisfy His hunger. But 

23 Tsa. 53:4, 5. 



THE SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. 



127 



Jesus was then acting in man's place, and was to know how a 
starving man suffered who can not create food for himself. All 
that man can do is to trust God through His Word. So Jesus 
did the same, and said to the devil, "It is written, Man shall not 
live by bread alone, but by every 
word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God." n 

The Saviour trusted all 
to the living Word of God, 
and that gave Him the 
victory. Had Adam 
and Eve only trusted in 
God's Word, they would 
have been safe. If we 
trust that Word now we 
shall be kept by it. Jesus 
suffered the pangs of hun- 
ger in the wilderness as 
fully as those who die of 
starvation. He can, there- 
fore, sympathize with the 
poor and starving. 

He was next carried by 
Satan and placed on the 
highest point of the tem- 
ple, and requested to throw Himself down. The tempter said 
that if He was the Son of God, the angels would keep Him 
from being harmed. But Jesus knew that it was wrong to 
obey Satan in anything, and that it would be tempting God if 

- 1 Matt. 4 : 4. 




" He Was next carried by Satan and placed 
on the highest point of the temple, and re- 
quested to throw Himself down." 



128 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

He went into danger simply to have the Lord exert His power 
to keep Him. Therefore He answered the tempter by say- 
ing, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 
Thus Jesus gained the victory once more through the Word of 
God. The devil then bore Jesus from the temple to an "exceed-- 
ing high mountain," and there showed Him all the kingdoms of 
the world and their glory. As the Saviour beheld them in all 
their splendor, Satan said, "All these things will I give Thee, if 
Thou wilt fall down and worship me." 22 

Satan had, from the time earthly kingdoms were first formed, 
constantly used them for wicked works; and on that mountain 
he offered them all to Christ if He would worship him. He 
knew that Christ had come to take these kingdoms from him, 
therefore he offered to yield them all up at once, and told Jesus 
He need not suffer longer to obtain them. Said he, "All these 
things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me."- 
But Jesus replied, "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve." 23 

In every temptation lesus gained the victory through the 
Word; and man can have victory by the same means. Satan 
was defeated. To the fainting Man of Nazareth angels minis- 
tered the necessary food, and His strength was restored. 

HIS RECEPTION AT NAZARETH. 

Shortly after His victory in the wilderness, Jesus returned 
to Nazareth. At this place He had been known as the carpen- 
ter. " Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" 24 It appears 
that Joseph was dead, and that Jesus had worked as a carpenter 

-- Matt. 4 : 9. -'Verse 10. 2 * Mark 6 : 3. 



THE SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. I2Q 

to support His widowed mother. He was a laboring man, and 

toiled at His trade six days in the week, to make the necessary 

living for the family of which He was a part. The text says, 

"He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and, as 

His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath 

day, and stood up for to read." It was Christ's custom while 

He was a carpenter at Nazareth to attend meetings on the 

Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, for that was the day 

which God commanded, and His people kept. And He kept 

the Sabbath on the same day and in the same manner after He 

became a public teacher. Christ is the example for His people 

to follow. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself 

also so to walk, even as He walked." lb 

The Saviour did not come from heaven to set up a new 

religion. His mission was to save men from their sins, and 

show them how to obey God. He said, " I came down from 

heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent 

Me." As the Son of God obeyed the commandments, so 

should His people obey them. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep 

the commandments." "Whosoever therefore shall break one 

of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall 

be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever 

«_> 

shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the 
kingdom of heaven." ' 9 

Jesus Christ did not change the Sabbath to Sunday, but kept 
the same day which had been commanded in the law. His life 
brought the righteousness of heaven to our earth for man to see 
and feel. His Father lived in Him, as He said, "I am in the 

« Luke 4:16. "John 6: 38. * 8 Matt. i 9 : 17. 

26 1 John 2:6. J ° 29 Chapter 5 : 19. 

9 



130 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



Father, and the Father in Me." He received the love and the 
law of the Father in Himself, and exemplified them in His 
human life as an example for all men. 

His every word and every act were in righteousness. He 

was a brother and a 
friend to all who came 
to Him. His life work 
was that of love and 
help for those who were 
in need. Sometimes 
the dead were 
raised; some- 
times the hun- 
gry thousands 
were fed. To 
help His dis- 
ciples out of 
trouble, He 
quieted the sea 
and stilled the 
winds. He re- 
stored health 
to those who 
were burning 
with fever, and 
healed them 
which had the palsy. By His word the leper became clean; 
sight was given to them that were blind; the lame were made 
to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. 

When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus to ask if 




"Sometimes the dead Were raised," 




" He restored health to those v/ho Were burning With feVeri" 



THE SAVIOUR ON THE EARTH. 1 33 

He were the Christ, Jesus told them to say to John, that "the 
blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, 
the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached." 3o He 
often labored hard through the entire day in His mission of love, 
and then spent all the night in the lonely mountains in prayer 
for Himself, for His disciples, and for the people. 

But the rulers and priests hated Christ because of His good 
works, and the more good He did the more they sought to 
destroy Him, because His blameless life condemned their evil 
deeds. Still they permitted Him to continue His labors for 
three and a half years after His baptism. God kept Him till 
His work was done. As a crowning miracle, Jesus finally raised 
to life a man named Lazarus, who had been dead four days. 
Then the priests decided that Jesus must die. Lazarus lived 
near Jerusalem, and the news of his death, burial, and resurrec- 
tion became known to thousands of people in the city and else- 
where. Many Jews were present when Christ called Lazarus to 
life; they saw the man come forth from the grave bound in his 
burial clothes; and large numbers believed on Jesus because of 
this miracle. 31 But some of them went and told the Pharisees 
what Jesus had done. "Then gathered the chief priests and the 
Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this Man doeth 
many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe 
on Him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our 
place and nation." "Then from that day forth they took counsel 
together to put Him to death." ' y "But the chief priests consulted 
that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason 
of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus." 33 
Yet the common people were planning to make Him king. 

30 Luke 7 : 22. 31 John 11 144, 45. 32 Verses 47, 48, 53. 3:i Chapter 12 : 10, 11. 





THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 

HE Jews generally believed that the Messiah would 
reign as king in Jerusalem. And those who had been 
cured of their infirmities or raised from the dead by 
Jesus, urged Him to take the throne and enter upon 
His reign. He had all the while told them that His was not 
a worldly kingdom; yet the common people demanded that He 
should be a king. So, on a day when He was about to enter 
into Jerusalem, in company with thousands whom He had 
blessed, He asked for a young ass that He might ride into the 
city. The colt was made ready, and Jesus, seated on it, went on 
toward Jerusalem. His followers supposed from this conduct 
that He had decided to let them crown Him king. So all began 
a shout of joy; and as they went forward, many spread their 
garments in the road, and others placed palm branches under 
the feet of the beast upon which the Saviour rode. The whole 
(134) 



THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 



135 



throng shouted, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that 
cometh in the name of the Lord." "The people therefore that 
was with Him when He called Lazarus out of his grave, and 
raised him from the dead, bare record. For this cause the people 
also met Him, for that they heard that He had done this miracle." * 




"So all began a shout of joy ; and as they v/ent forv/ard, many spread their 

garments in the road," 



Doubtless there were in that company, Bartimeus, whose 
eyes Jesus had opened; the young man to whom He had given 
sight; the daughter of Jairus whom He had spoken back to 
life; the son of a widow of Nain; a great multitude of those who 
had been delivered from demons, and healed from various dis- 
eases; and Lazarus, whom He had so recently called from death 
and corruption. All were proclaiming in glad praise the 

1 John 12 : 13, 17, 18. 



I 36 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

wonderful things Jesus had wrought for them. Thus they 
fulfilled the words of the prophet: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter 
of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King 
cometh unto thee." 2 

But the shouting ceased when Jesus arrived where He could 
look over the city, for there He stopped to weep. As He 
looked upon Jerusalem, which had slighted His love, He broke 
forth in the following lament: "If thou hadst known, even thou, 
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! 
but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come 
upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass' thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and 
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; 
and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because 
thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." As the multitude 
saw a sadness in His heart which they did not understand, they 
dispersed. 

The time was now at hand when the Son of God was to give 
His life for the sins of the world, and He was anxious to have 
His disciples understand as much about His death as possible 
before He suffered. Twelve men had been in training for the 
Gospel ministry, named Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew, 
Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of 
Alpheus, Simon Zelotes, Judas the brother of James, and Judas 
Iscariot. 

He ate the Passover supper with these men in a large upper 
room in Jerusalem. At the table He told them how He would 
suffer and die for sin, and that He would be taken by wicked 
men that night, to be crucified. He also stated that before the 

2 Zech. 9:9. 3 Luke 19 : 4 I_ 44- 



THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 1 37 

morning's dawn one of the twelve would betray Him, and all 
the others would forsake Him. But Peter would not believe 
that such things could be possible, and declared that he would 
go to prison or even to death with Jesus. And all the others 
affirmed the same thing. But Jesus said that Peter would deny 
Him three times before the morning cock-crowing. 4 

, Judas Iscariot left the room while Jesus was yet talking, and 
sought the priests and officers that he might lead them to the 
Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went often to pray; for the 
Jewish priests and rulers had previously hired Judas, for thirty 
pieces of silver, to betray to them the Master. There was an 
orchard of olive trees in Gethsemane, and under the darkness of 
their branches Jesus went with the other disciples to bear the 
agony of the burden of the sins of men. 

As soon as they arrived in the garden, the Saviour felt that 
the guilt of the whole world was settling down upon Him. In 
bitterness He cried, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto 
death." The prophet Isaiah had said: "He was wounded for 
our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are 
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; and have turned 
every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the 
iniquity of us all." 3 

The grief which the sinner will experience when he knows 
he is lost forever was laid upon Christ. In anguish He prayed, 
"O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; never- 
theless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He had asked His 
disciples to watch and pray with Him in the hour of His sorrow, 
but they were overcome with sleep, and He was left to suffer 

i See Matt. 26:33-33. 5 Isa. 53:5, 6. 6 Matt. 26:39. 



l^S THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

alone. Jesus saw them slumbering, and said to Peter, 'What, 
could ye not watch with Me one hour?" Going .a short distance 
from them, the second time He prayed, "O My Father, if this 
cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be 
done." Three times He prayed, each time more earnestly. 
"Being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat 
was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." 
The prophet wrote of the sorrow and the blood which marked 
the face of Jesus in the garden, and he said, "His visage was 
so marred more than any man." 8 

But an angel came into Gethsemane and gave the Saviour 
new strength, by which He was enabled to go forth to His trial 
and crucifixion. He arose from the ground, and, with the blood- 
stains yet on His face, He awoke the disciples just in time to 
meet Judas Iscariot, with priests and a company of men. Judas 
stepped forward and saluted Jesus with a kiss, that the officers 
might know which man to take. The only reproof which Jesus 
gave was, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" "betrayest thou 
the Son of man with a kiss?" 9 

Peter, in his indignation at seeing his Master and himself 
thus humiliated, drew a sword and cut off the high priest's 
servant's right ear. The ever-merciful Lord reached forth the 
hand which had ever brought comfort, touched the man's ear, 
and healed it. Turning to Peter, He said, "Put up again thy 
sword into his place; for all they that take the sword shall perish 
with the sword." 10 Thus our Lord, who elsewhere declares 
that His kino-dom is not of this world, here teaches that His 
truth or cause is not to be defended by resort to arms. 

The Redeemer permitted Himself to be bound, and when 

7 Luke 22 : 44. 8 Isa. 52 : 14. 9 Matt. 26 : 50; Luke 22 : 48. 10 Matt. 26 : 52. 



THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST 



J 39 



the disciples saw that He was in the hands of the officers, "they 
all forsook Him and fled." Afterward John returned and "went 
in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest." 11 Peter also 
"followed," but afar off, and entered into the palace. There the 




"At the moment of the last denial, the eroding of the cock Was heard, and desus 

turned and looked upon His disciple," 



proud disciple was accused three times of having been with 
Jesus; but each time he denied it, and the third time with an 
oath declared, "I know not the Man." At the moment of the 
last denial, the crowing of the cock was heard, and Jesus turned 

11 John 18: 15. 



I4O THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

and looked upon His disciple. That look of sadness and pity 
brought to Peter's remembrance the words of Jesus which foretold 
that he would deny the Lord. And Peter went away in sorrow 
for his sin, and "wept bitterly." 

While the priests awaited the coming of the day, Jesus was 
made the sport of cruel men; some spit upon Him, and others 
smote Him. They mocked and insulted Him with false and 
cruel speeches, to cause Him, if possible, to manifest anger; but 
in love He withstood it all. 

When morning came, Jesus was taken before Pilate, the 
governor, whose mind was to set his Prisoner free. But the 
priest told Pilate that if he did not condemn Christ to be cruci- 
fied they would accuse him to Caesar, the emperor of Rome, as 
Caesar's enemy. Pilate was made to fear that Caesar would 
deprive him of his office, and perhaps take his life, unless he 
yielded to the wishes of the priests and people, and crucified Him 
who was King of the Jews. "When Pilate saw that he could 
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took 
water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am 
innocent of the blood of this just Person; see ye to it." But 
Pilate at last became so cowardly before the multitude that he 
condemned Jesus, and scourged Him upon the bare back, until 
His body was wounded and bleeding with many stripes. Jesus 
was then, in a fainting condition, turned over to the Roman 
soldiers to be crucified. 

A crown of thorns was placed on the Saviour's head, and 
then in mockery the Romans called Him "King of the Jews," 
and spit upon Him. Some one smote His head with a reed, 
while He wore the crown of thorns. The thorns were driven 

l - Matt. 27 : 24. 



THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 



I 4 I 



into His flesh, causing the blood to flow down upon His face. 
By this shameful treatment, Satan hoped to arouse Jesus to 
anger, and cause Him to speak an unkind word, or to refuse His 
love to some sinner. Sinful men, in their blindness, were made 
to abuse their own Saviour, to try to crush out His love for 
them. But Jesus knew who was causing all the affliction, and 




Pilate Showing Christ to the Multitude! 



He only loved and pitied the men who persecuted Him. His 
righteousness was stronger than the power of Satan, and His 
love for sinners so great that it could not be broken. 

When Satan saw that he could not destroy the Saviour's 
love for sinners, he then instigated them to go on with the 
crucifixion. An effort was made to have the Son of God carry 



I4 2 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

His own cross to the place where He must die; but He was by 
this time so physically exhausted that He fainted under the load. 
The soldiers then compelled a stranger to bear the cross to 
Calvary. There the Redeemer was stretched upon the hard 
wood, and great nails were driven through His hands and feet, 
which were thus made fast to the timber. As they drove the 
nails, and His flesh was quivering in agony, Jesus prayed in 
sorrow and love, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what 
they do." The cross was then raised up with the Saviour 
suspended upon it. The sacrifice was complete in His death. 
Upon the cross the Son of God gained His great victory over 
Satan by dying for sinners. The multitude and the priests 
remained by the uplifted cross to mock at the Saviour's dying 
agony. But Jesus uttered no complaint. At the sight of the 
crucifixion, the earth quaked, the rocks were rent, and the sun 
was veiled in darkness and refused to give light to the world 
till the sufferings of Christ were over. 

When the Saviour hung upon the cross, He knew that His 
life had been without sin, and that His victory over Satan was 
complete; yet He had taken man's place, and must die as though 
He were lost. In the sinner's stead He must feel in the dark- 
ness of the sins He was bearing the hiding of the Father's pres- 
ence, and pass into death without the joy of the Holy Spirit to 
comfort Him. When the last trying moment came, and the pres- 
ence of the Father was withdrawn, Jesus called in a loud voice, 
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The world 
had forsaken Him; His disciples had fled; the sun had refused to 
shine, and at last the Father withdrew His presence. In this 
awful darkness Jesus still trusted that all was well, and cried out, 
11 It is finished.". "Father, into Thy hands I commend My 




THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 



1 43 



Spirit" — and He was dead I The great offering was made; the 
Lamb was slain, and the sufferings of Christ were ended. 

As the Redeemer yielded up Himself to death, "the veil of 
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and 
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent." The rending of the 
veil showed that the priestly service in the earthly temple, or 




"The vVorld had forsaken Him; His disciples had fled; the sun had refused 

to shine." 



sanctuary, was forever ended. Type had met antitype. The 
shadow had reached the substance. 

When the captain and the soldiers saw Jesus die, and beheld 
the darkened heavens, and felt the shaking of the earth, "they 
feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God." u "And 
all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the 
things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned." 10 

After the crucifixion, Joseph, a rich Jew of Arimathea, 

13 Matt. 27 : 51, u Verse 54. ] ' Luke 23 : 48. 



144 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

begged the body, and, assisted by a ruler named Nicodemus, 
took Jesus from the cross and buried Him in his own new tomb. 
The grave had been cut out in the side of a rock, and a great 
stone fastened to the door, and there the Saviour was placed to 
rest. 

But Joseph's tomb, though new and strong, could not long 
retain the Son of God. His righteousness was stronger than 
the power of death which held Him. "It was not possible that 
He should be holden of it."' 6 Christ had said, "I lay down My 
life for the sheep," He not only lay down His life so that man 
could receive it, but He said, "I lay down My life, that I might 
take it a^ain." " 

Jesus had often told His disciples that He was to die, but 
that He would rise again the third day; yec they could not 
believe it. They thought all the while that He was to reign in 
Jerusalem as king. So when He was crucified, all their hopes 
were gone, and in discouragement they went away to mourn 
and weep. His enemies sealed up the tomb, and placed around 
it a guard of Roman soldiers, pretending to believe that His 
disciples would steal away His body in the night, and then say 
that He had risen from the dead. 18 Doubtless Satan, the prince 
of death, also set a strong guard of wicked angels around the 
grave, with orders to keep Him from coming to life again. 

But God had set a guard over the sepulcher of His Son, 
which was stronger than all His enemies. And on the morning 
of the third day the angel descended from heaven, and before 
His glory the Roman soldiers fell like dead men. That mighty 
messenger rolled back the stone from the tomb. 19 Then Jesus 
came forth from death, a complete conqueror over Satan and 

1,1 Acts 2 : 24. 17 John 10 : 1 7. 1R Matt. 27 : 62-66. 19 Chapter 28 : 2-4. 



THE CRUCIFIED ANT) RISEN CHRIST. 1 45 

the hosts of evil. In His resurrection the victory over death 
was gained, that man might be redeemed from its power. 

The elders and the priests were greatly alarmed when the 
soldiers reported in the city of Jerusalem that Jesus had risen 
from the dead. They were afraid of the- people if the report 
should be believed, so they hired the soldiers to say that His 
disciples stole away His body in the night, while they slept. 
But God provided other witnesses who testified to the resurrec- 
tion of His Son. These were many saints who had been sleep- 
ing in their graves. The testimony says, "And the graves 
were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 
and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went 
into the holy city, and appeared unto many." So while the 
soldiers were telling that His disciples had stolen the body of 
Jesus, the risen saints went into the city and testified that Jesus 
had come to life, and that they also had risen with Him. And 
the people could not deny the testimony of these resurrected 
ones. The Saviour went into the grave and took the keys of 
death, and He says, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, 
behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell 
[the grave] and of death." n 

Some sorrowing friends came to the tomb on the morning of 
His resurrection to anoint His body; but there were angels 
waiting to tell them that He was risen. And Christ Himself 
appeared early at the sepulcher, and made Himself known to 
Mary Magdalene, who went and told His disciples that Jesus was 
alive again; but they would not believe it. 22 Later in the day He 
met two acquaintances and made Himself known to them. 
When the evening came, the disciples shut themselves up in their 

20 Matt. 27 : 52, 53. 21 Rev. 1 : 28. 22 Mark 16 : 9-12. 

10 



146 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



room for fear of the Jews, and were eating when Jesus appeared 
among them. "But they were terrified and affrighted, and 
supposed that they had seen a spirit." To remove all doubt 
of His resurrection, Jesus showed them His hands and His feet, 

and they examined 
the prints which the 
nails had made. He 
also ate in their pres- 
ence, to convince 
them of His resurrec- 
tion. So they be- 
lieved, and were made 
to rejoice again. 

Before His death 
Christ could not make 
His disciples under- 
stand why He must 
die to redeem man. 
Their notion that 
Christ must reign as 
king in Jerusalem 
kept them from see- 
ing the truth. But 
after His death and 
resurrection their 
minds began to open to the subject. He therefore taught them 
at different times for forty days, speaking of the things con- 
cerning the kingdom of God. 24 

But as the close of His sojourn on earth drew near, He 

23 Luke 24 : 37. u Acts 1 : 3. 




But there Were angels Waiting to tell them that 
He Was risen." 





While they beheld, He Was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of 

their sight." 



THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST. 



149 



called His followers together, and told them to tarry in Jeru- 
salem and pray for the Holy Spirit until they should receive 
power from on high. "And when He had spoken these things, 
while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him 
out of their sight." 25 That cloud which Jesus entered was a 
company of angels, a triumphal escort of the mighty victors. 
As the holy cavalcade reach heaven's gates, the escorting angels 
cry, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye 
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." 

The angels within the gates inquire, "Who is this King of 
glory?" The angelic escort in holy triumph break forth in glad 
refrain: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in 
battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye 
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Again, 
that they may hear the joyful reply, the angels within ask, "Who 
is this King of glory?" And once again comes the jubilant 
and eternally victorious reply: "The Lord of hosts, He is the 
King of glory." 26 

Thus the Son of God returned again to heaven, and He is 
there to appear in the presence of God for us. 



25 Acts 2 : 9. 



Ps. 24:7-9. 





PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 




HE crucifixion and resurrection of Christ prepared the 
way for the Gospel to go with great power to all 
nations. The apostles were commissioned to give 
the glad news to the world. "And Jesus came and 
spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven 
and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- 
ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
1 have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even 
unto the end of the world." 1 The Gospel by Luke tells it 
in these words: "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ 
to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that 
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His 
name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are 
witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of 
My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until 
ye be endued with power from on high." 2 

1 Matt. 28 : 18-20. 2 Luke 22 : 46-49- 

(150) 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 151 

After the ascension of the Saviour to heaven His disciples 
returned to Jerusalem, and there waited for the outpouring of 
the Holy Spirit which He had promised they should receive. 
But while they tarried, earnest prayer was made by them all. 
In humility they confessed their sins and sought the Lord until 
every heart was made clean and every soul was free. "And 
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one 
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they 
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." 3 

The Jews were at this time attending the feast of Pentecost 
from every nation under heaven. They knew, too, that their 
rulers had condemned Jesus; and much had been said about His 
resurrection from the dead. So this occasion seems to have 
been chosen that the Jews might have another chance of accept- 
ing the Saviour. They had been first to condemn Him, and 
now they were to have the first opportunity to acknowledge 
Him after His ascension to heaven. 

Because the apostles were speaking in many languages at 
the same moment, some made light of it, and said they were 
drunken. But Peter answered this accusation, and said that 
they were not drunken, as some supposed; but God had fulfilled 
His word, spoken by the prophet Joel, in pouring out His Spirit 
upon His servants. He then affirmed that Jesus, whom they 
had beaten, condemned, and crucified, was actually the Son of 
God, the true Messiah, foretold by all the prophets. And after 

3 Acts 2 : 1-4. 



152 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

giving many proofs from the Word of God that they had with 
wicked hands crucified the Just One, he said: "This Jesus hath 
God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being 
by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the 
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, 
which ye now see and hear." 1 

But the power of the Spirit of God was not confined to the 
apostles, for while Peter told the glad old story of redemption, 
his words pierced the hearts of the people, and many believed. 
The weight of their sins became too heavy for them to bear, 
and in anguish they cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we 
do ?" Then said Peter: "Repent, and be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and 
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise 
is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." 5 

To repent of sin is to hate one's evil ways and turn from 
them, but this can be done only by the help of the Lord. It is 
the Spirit of God that convicts the sinner, and causes him to 
cry out for relief from guilt. He becomes anxious to know the 
way to a better life, and earnestly calls out, "O tell me, what 
must I do to be saved?" But salvation from sin can be found 
only in Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified One. It is in His name 
that the people were offered pardon by the apostles. "Then 
they that gladly received His word were baptized; and the same 
day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." 6 

The people saw from the teaching of Peter that Jesus, 
whom they had crucified, was at that moment in heaven, offer- 
ing to forgive all their sins. He could even save them through 
4 Acts 2 : 32, 33. "' Verses 37-39- G Verse 41. 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 



*53 



His death of shame which He had suffered on the cross. They 
were made to look upon the death of Christ as their only way 
to life, and they gladly accepted it as the means of being saved. 
By the act of baptism they showed that they believed in His 
death, His burial, and His resurrection. "Know ye not, that so 
many of us as were 
baptized into Jesus 
Christ were baptized 
into His death? There- 
fore we are buried with 
Him by baptism into 
death; that like as 
Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the 
glory of the Father, 
even so we also 
should walk in new- 
ness of life." 7 As 
Christ died and was 
buried, so should the 
sinner give up his 
life of sin and be 
buried in baptism. 
As Christ rose from the dead into a new life, so should one 
baptized arise to live a new life. He leaves off his old life of 
sin and lets the new life of Christ come in to rule all his actions. 




" Peter and cJohn came upon a 
poor, helpless beggar lying at the Beautiful Gate of 
the temple." 



THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 

Shortly after the day of Pentecost, Peter and John came 

7 Rom. 6:3, 4. 



154 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

upon a poor, helpless beggar lying at the Beautiful Gate of the 
temple. He asked a gift of them, but as they had no money to 
give him, Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as 
I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth 
rise up and walk." And immediately the man received strength, 
and entered into the temple with them, "walking, and leaping, 
and praising God." Soon a multitude of people gathered around 
and listened in amazement to the beggar, as he told of the 
wonderful thing which had been done for him. 

This circumstance gave Peter another opportunity to preach 
Christ to the multitude. Some were claiming that Peter and 
John had healed the man; but the apostles denied having any 
power or holiness by which such works could be done. The 
beggar had believed on Christ, and had received health and joy 
in His name. The impotent man had been healed by the 
power of the risen Christ. It was a convincing proof to all 
that Jesus Christ lived, and that the rulers had not stopped His 
work of mercy and love, even though they had crucified Him. 
Peter said to the people: "Ye denied the Holy One and the 
Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed 
the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; 
whereof we are witnesses. And His name through faith in 
His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; 
yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect 
soundness in the presence of you all." 9 

But as it displeased the priests and rulers of the Jews for 

the apostles to preach and heal in the name of One whom they 

had condemned and crucified, they arrested Peter and John 

and brought them to trial for healing in the name of Jesus 

8 Acts 3:6. 9 Verses 14-16. 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 1 55 

of Nazareth. Being requested to speak in his own defense, 
Peter preached the Gospel, saying: "If we this day be examined 
of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he 
is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of 
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye 
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth 
this man stand here before vou whole. This is the stone which 
was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of 
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is 
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we 
must be saved." 10 

The man who had been healed was standing in their presence, 
and the priests could not deny the words of Peter; yet they com- 
manded the apostles to teach no more in the name of Jesus. 
But man could not stop the work of God. Even when the 
ministers were put in the prison, the Gospel was proclaimed. 
Finally the Jews determined to put an end to the apostles' preach- 
ing, so they brought to trial a worthy Christian named Stephen, 
and called together the whole council of seventy elders to sit in 
judgment upon him. Men were hired to swear falsely against 
Stephen, and he was stoned to death. So the nation of Israel 
rejected the Gospel of Christ and entered upon the work of 
slaying Christians. 

After Stephen's death, officers went from house to house and 
took both men and women from their homes, and put them in 
prison for believing in Jesus. This treatment scattered the 
followers of Christ into different parts of the country, but it 
did not check the Gospel; for "they that were scattered abroad 
went everywhere preaching the Word." Philip, one of the 

10 Acts 4 :9-i2. 



156 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



deacons from Jerusalem, went to Samaria, and there preached 
Christ to the people. Many in that city believed and were 
baptized. The sick were healed, the lame made whole, and a 
large church established at the place. 

From Samaria Philip was directed by the Holy Spirit to go 
southward and toward Gaza. He obeyed, and while traveling 

^t^0tiB&~^~ -~^~ ^ on tne wa y ne saw an 

officer of the queen of 
Ethiopia, returning 
homeward from Jeru- 
salem. He was ridino- 
in a chariot, and reading 
in the Scriptures where 
the prophet said of Je- 
sus, "He is brought as a 
lamb to the slaugrh- 
ter, and as a sheep 
before her shearers is 
dumb, so He open- 
eth not His mouth." 11 
The officer did not un- 
derstand this scripture, 
so he requested Philip to ride with him and explain it. There- 
fore Philip took a seat in the chariot, "and began at the same 
scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." The story of redemp- 
tion was told to the Ethiopian. As they journeyed onward, a 
certain water was reached, and the man said, "See, here is 
water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, 
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he 

11 Isa. 53 : 7. 




"The officer did not understand this scripture, so 
he requested Philip to ride With him and explain it." 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 1 57 

answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 
God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they 
went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; 
and he baptized him." 12 

This account shows that the minister and the person to be 
baptized should go into the water together, and that the one who 
is baptized is buried in the water, and then immediately brought 
forth, as though he had come into a new life. In describing 
baptism, Paul says, " Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also 
ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, 
who hath raised Him from the dead." 13 The eunuch whom 
Philip baptized returned to his home in Ethiopia, a country in 
Africa, and there told the wondrous story to his countrymen. 
Thus the Gospel was spread far away from Jerusalem, and the 
more men opposed it, the wider it became known. 

One of the council that condemned Stephen was a young 
man of much learning, whose name was Saul. He was a bitter 
enemy to the cause of Christ, and when Stephen was put to 
death, Saul held the clothes of the men who threw the stones. 
But Saul, as a member of the council, had heard the strong 
argument which Stephen gave for believing in Jesus. He also 
listened to the touching words, and felt the Spirit's power as 
Stephen gave his dying testimony. For God opened the heav- 
ens and permitted his faithful servant to behold Jesus standing 
by the throne of the Eternal. Saul also heard the words of 
Stephen as he prayed the Lord to have mercy on his persecutors. 

The young man never could get the words of Stephen out 
of his mind. Let him try ever so hard to ignore those solemn 
truths and that tender, humble prayer, they would remain. So 

12 Acts 8: 36-38. 13 Col. 2: 12. 



158 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 




he endeavored to erase them from his memory by cruelly treat- 
ing the Christians. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings 
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the 
high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the syna- 
gogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men 
or women, he might bring them bound 
unto Jerusalem." u But he was stopped 
in this course, for on the road to Da- 
mascus a bright light from heaven 
blinded his eyes and threw him to the 
earth. Then a voice spoke 
from heaven, and said, "Saul, 
Saul, why persecutest thou 
Me?" Saul called to know 
who was speaking, and 
the answer came, "I am 
Jesus whom thou perse- 
cutest." 

Then Saul asked Jesus 
what he must do, and 
he was told to proceed 
to Damascus, and there 
he would learn his duty. 
So his companions took 
him by the hand and led him into Damascus. And he had 
no sight for three days; he neither ate nor drank; but he prayed 
earnestly. In this condition he was visited by a disciple named 
Ananias, who laid his hands on him, and forthwith he received 
his sight, and was baptized. Saul was then informed that he 

14 Acts 9:1, 2. 




A bright light from heaVen blinded his eyes and 
threw him to the earth." 



PREACHING OF THE APOSTLES. 



159 



was chosen of the Lord to preach the Gospel of Christ. This 
ministry he gladly accepted, and afterward became known to 
the Christian world as the apostle Paul. 

After he became a follower of Christ, he did all that was pos- 
sible for man to do in preaching the Gospel to the world. He 
did not confine his work to the Jews, but traveled thousands of 
miles among the nations, and preached Christ, often laboring 
day and night. The time of his active work in the ministry 
was about thirty years. He was then put to death for his faith, 
at Rome. This man wrote more than half the books of the 
New Testament, and perhaps no man ever labored harder for 
Christ. All the apostles left their homes and gave up every- 
thing for the cause which they so dearly loved. Paul said of 
his trials, "None of these things move me, neither count I my 
life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with 
joy." 10 Nearly all of them were put to death for their faith; but 
they are only resting for a little while, till Jesus comes, and 
then they will receive starry crowns of unfading glory, 

15 Acts 20 : 24. 





YTfrrfo* (V^fttc^S^r 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH CHRIST. 




AN KIND was made so helpless by sin that the Lord 
said, ''They are all gone aside, they are altogether 
become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not 
one." Paul expresses it, "There is none righteous, 
no, not one."" 

Righteousness is right doing, or right being. A person 
must be right in his heart and right in his living to be right- 
eous. But all people have sinned, because there is evil in their 
very nature. This nature is called the carnal mind, and we 
read that "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not 
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." No man 
can be righteous while his mind is given to the flesh, and sin. 
Therefore the carnal mind must be taken away from the sinner 
before he can become righteous. 

Jesus saw man's helpless condition, and came from heaven 
to save him from sin and enable him to live in righteousness. 



' Ps. 14 : 3. 

(160) 



2 Rom. 3 : 10. 



Chapter 8:7. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH CHRIST. l6l 

The law of God is good and spiritual/ but man is too weak and 
full of sin to obey it until he becomes a new creature. Man can 
not change his own heart, and the law without Christ can only 
condemn him; "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Had 
it been possible for the sinner to make himself righteous, he 
could have saved himself without the blood of Christ being 
shed for him. The person who tries of himself to be righteous, 
finds something in his nature which compels him to say, "The 
good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, 
.that I do." Again he says, "I see another law in my members, 
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Then he 
cries out in bitterness, "O wretched man that I am ! who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death?" 6 

Sin is a body of death so strong that no man can deliver 
himself from its power. Yet Satan wishes man to think that, 
if he is a sinner at all, he can get free from sin without Christ. 
T^« deceiver would have men believe they are able to keep 
tb« commandments of God in themselves, because he does not 
w^nt them to seek the Lord for strength. But the simple fact 
is *hat man is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and helpless, 
an^ the Lord desires that man shall learn this. God desires 
him to feel as David felt when he said, "Mine iniquities have 
taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are 
more than the hairs of mine head; therefore my heart faileth 
me." When he learned his true condition he prayed, "Be 
pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help 
me." 7 It is when man gives up all to the Lord that he gets all 
he needs in Christ. For Christ "is made unto us wisdom, 

* Rom. 7 : 12, 14. 5 Chapter 3 : 19, 20. 6 Chapter 7 : 19-24. 7 Ps. 40 : 12, 13. 
II 



1 62 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." ( Then 
where is our righteousness? — It is in Jesus, for the prophet 
says, "This is His name whereby He shall be called, THE 
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." 9 

The law of God told man to do right, but he failed; then our 
Saviour came and obeyed for him. The law said that he should 
die, because he had not been righteous, but Christ died in his place. 
Man was condemned because he had no righteousness; but through 
faith he receives the righteousness of Christ. "For He [the 
Father] hath made Him [the Son] to be sin for us, who knew 
no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in 
Him." 10 Jesus had no sin of His own, but He took upon Him 
the sins of men. And men had no righteousness of their own, 
so Jesus gave them His. The prophet says, "Surely He hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." n It was the weight 
of our sins on Jesus that made Him sweat blood in the garden. 
Our sins caused His death on the cross. "His own self bare 
our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to 
sins, should live unto righteousness." 12 

Jesus came to earth, and lived a life of suffering and sorrow, 
and then died on the cross, because He loved even the lowest 
of helpless sinners. "For when we were yet without strength, 
in due time Christ died for the ungodly." And again it is 
written, "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while 
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 13 We need not be lost 
while the Lord is so ready to save us. Even the dying for our 
sins has been done; the suffering has been borne to settle for 
our condemnation, and the law has been obeyed by Jesus in 
every part. 

8 i Cor. i : 30. 10 2 Cor. 5 : 21. la 1 Peter 2 : 24. 

9 Jer. 23:6. u Isa. 53:4. u Rom. 5 : 6, 8. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH CHRIST. 1 63 

But how can a sinner get all this righteousness? The blessed 
thought is that he can exchange his sins for it all. It is free to 
every one who will take it as a gift. And there is also life with 
the righteousness, for the apostle says, "They which receive 
abundance, of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign 
in life by one, Jesus Christ." Righteousness is given when a 
person wholly believes God's Word. For the scripture says, 
"Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for right- 
eousness." And it also teaches that when the ungodly person 
believes, his faith is counted for righteousness. "For we say 
that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness." 14 The 
reason why his faith was counted to him for righteousness was be- 
cause he believed every word that God said, without even a doubt. 
He actually believed that God would do every thing He had 
promised. He came into perfect harmony with God. "And 
therefore it [the faith] was imputed to him for righteousness." 15 

Abraham believed all the words of God, and took them into 
his heart. Thus the Word of God became the guide of Abra- 
ham's mind; that is, the mind of God was in Abraham's 
faith. Therefore his faith could properly be counted for right- 
eousness; and it was so counted because that faith contained the 
Word of God, which is righteousness itself. To receive the 
Word of God is to receive Christ and His righteousness. The 
faith of Abraham will accept and receive every Word of God. 
And if we thus believe it with all the heart, the righteous mind of 
Christ will be in us, and our faith will be counted for righteous- 
ness. 

The Lord works to take every stain of sin away from His 
children, therefore He washes them clean, and makes their 
u Rom. 4 : 3, 5, 9. 15 Verse 22. 



164 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



robes of character pure and white, in the blood of the Lamb. 16 
He represents man's works as filthy clothing, and the righteous- 
ness of Christ as white raiment. And He asks the sinner to 
give up his filthy rags, and be clothed in the beautiful garments 
of Christ's righteousness. The prophet sang of this righteous 
robe, saying, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall 

be joyful in my God; for He hath 
clothed me with the garments of 
salvation, He hath covered me with 
the robe of righteousness, as a 
bridegroom decketh himself with 
ornaments, and as a bride adorn- 
eth herself with her jewels." 17 

This robe of righteousness is 
the perfect life which Jesus lived, 
which is counted as ours when we 
believe. Christ's own life and right- 
eousness, as He now is, lives in His 
children, so that all may be as Paul 
said of himself, "I am crucified with 
Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not 
I, but Christ liveth in me; and the 
life which I now live in the* flesh I live by the faith of the Son 
of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." It was 
Christ's Spirit and life in Paul that enabled him to obey the 
commandments of God. And that was how Jesus was Paul's 
righteousness. 

As soon as the sinner lets go of his own ways and accepts 
Jesus as his Saviour, he becomes a child of God, and begins to 
16 Rev. 7 : 14. " Isa. 61 : 10. 18 Gal. 2 : 20. 




" My soul shall be joyful in my 
God. . . . He hath covered me 
With the robe of righteousness. " 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH CHRIST. 1 65 

live the righteousness of Christ. He does not have to make 
himself righteous by his good works, for he is given the mind and 
character of Christ, and all the riches and righteousness of 
heaven become his. The Lord is anxious to have him believe 
it, too, with all his heart. He is not pleased at having His 
children sad and discouraged, for "light is sown for the right- 
eous, and gladness for the upright in heart." "For Thy mercy 
is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds." 

David, when talking with the Redeemer, said, "Open to 
me the gates of righteousness; I will go into them, and I will 
praise the Lord." The gates are now open, and Jesus is calling 
upon all to enter in. He says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke 
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, 
and My burden is light." 19 

Blessed invitation! the Saviour calling His laboring people 
to come and receive rest in Him. The sinner, with his heavy 
load of guilt, is asked to put his burden of sorrow on Christ. 
The poor of all classes can come and receive a crown and 
kingdom. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake 
can lay their shame on Him, who tenderly shares it with them. 
For the Son of God is in every jail, and court, and prison, and 
furnace, where His children are afflicted, to bear the reproach 
with them. All that come, rich and poor, find sweet rest in 
Jesus. Although the Redeemer is now the joy of all heaven, 
yet He lives with the humble, and still loves the poor and 
needy. He has not forgotten how weary He used to be when 
He worked at the carpenter's trade in Nazareth, or when He 

19 Matt. 11 : 2S-30. 



1 66 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

walked over the valleys and mountains of Judea and Galilee 
seeking to save the lost. 

Man's sin may be ever so great, yet the righteousness 
of Christ can take it all away. In Him is found the law 
fulfilled by implicit obedience, and we are complete in Him. 20 
None need be afraid to stand before the judgment seat in the 
righteousness of Chrrst, because the righteousness of heaven 
itself is given to the sinner when he is converted. To the 
sinner who will take the gift it is said, "Come now, and let us 
reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." 21 If the sinner's heart is dark, will he 
not be ready to have it made light? If his sins are red as 
blood, does he not want them made whiter than snow? 

Let the sinner confess his wickedness to the Lord, and then 
believe that Christ's righteousness is given him at that moment. 
He does not have to do something to be forgiven and made 
righteous, because righteousness is "by faith of Jesus Christ 
unto all and upon all them that believe ; for there is no differ- 
ence." 22 All good is in Christ, and must come to us from Him 
continually. He says, "Without Me ye can do nothing." It 
is trust in God's promises which gives strength. It is resting in 
His Word which gives peace. The prophet says, "Let the 
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; 
and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon 
him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." 

Pardon is abundant, and there should be no doubting it. 
The Lord is not pleased with doubts ; He wants faith. Unbelief 

-•Col. 2:9,10. -Rom. 3:22. "John 15: 5- 

21 Isa. 1: rS. 2 *Isa. 55:7. 



RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH CHRIST. 



167 



is sin. God can not be worshiped by our doubts, neither 
can we grow strong on them. Not one can gain a victory 
through doubts. All must learn by faith and grow strong in 
believing. 




Bedouin Women and Children. 




THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. 




HE churches organized by the apostles and early 
Christians were taught to obey the commandments 
of God and to live after the example of Christ. 
Jesus had commissioned His disciples to teach all 
nations "to observe all things whatsoever" He had commanded 
them; and had promised to be with them always, "even unto 
the end of the world." He had said: "I am the vine, ye 
are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without Me ye can do 
nothing." John, who wrote this saying of Christ, said to the 
churches, "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also 
so to walk, even as He walked." Paul says, "We are members 
of His body, and of His flesh, and of His bones." 4 "Christ is 
the head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. 

3 1 John 2:6. 



>> 5 



1 Matt. 28 : 30. 
-John 15:5. 

(168) 



*Eph. 5:30. 
5 Verse 23. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. 1 69 

The thoughts of the Christian are continually directed to the 
Saviour in all the teaching of the apostles. Jesus was to be the 
very life and power of His people. It is written, "As ye have 
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him ; 
rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye 
have been taught." 6 

There is to be a constant looking to Jesus. He is to all the 
Author and Finisher of their faith. He is their sunshine, their 
light, their joy, their wisdom, their strength, their righteousness, 
and their shield. His people are to be united in heart to 
Him ; and His Spirit and love are to dwell in them. To 
them He says: "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come 
to you. . . . Because I live, ye shall live also.'" Christ 
dwells by His Spirit with His people so fully that Paul said, 
"Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh 
I live by the faith of the Son of God." Christ was made the 
head, the foundation, and the chief corner-stone of the church. 
"He is the head of the body, the church," 9 and is Himself the 
"chief corner-stone." 10 "Other foundation can no man lay 
than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 11 Neither the pope of 
Rome, nor Mahomet, nor any other man, or set of men, is the 
head of the church. Christ is head of His own church, and 
also head of every man in the church. Says the apostle, "I 
would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ." 12 

In the lifetime of the apostles thousands were converted who 
walked faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus. The work spread so 
rapidly among the nations that Satan became aroused lest his 
kingdom should be destroyed. Persecution therefore began. 

6 Col. 2:6, 7. «Gal. 2:20. Uj Con3:Il! 

7 John 14 : 18, 19. \C°\ z : l8 - 12 Chapter 11 : 3. 

10 Eph. 2:20. 



I70 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Christians must decide to give up their faith in Christ or to suffer 
death. Many died for their faith. But persecution only made 
God's people more faithful. The same spirit which Christ had 
manifested at His crucifixion dwelt with His suffering people, and 
it gave them victory even in their death. And in His Word to us 
Christ says, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
crown of life." 13 And again: " Blessed are ye, when men shall 
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding 
glad; for great is your reward in heaven." 14 But the more the 
Christians were persecuted and slain, the farther was Christianity 
spread abroad. The followers of Jesus were often filled with 
joy, and would sing praises, when being tortured or imprisoned; 
and their joy would reach other hearts, and cause them also to 
accept Christ. 

After a while Satan discovered that persecution only hindered 
his own cause, so he decided to change his manner of action. 
He then ceased to be so cruel, and worked to bring worldly- 
minded people into the church. Many idolaters then professed 
to believe in Jesus, and these were baptized and united with the 
church. They were not Christians, but simply unconverted 
church-members. The more such professors were added to the 
church, the weaker it became. Many heathen who were rich 
and proud professed to believe in Christ, and were called Chris- 
tians. They brought much of their idolatry with them into the 
church. By them many plain, simple truths of the Gospel were 
rejected, and heathen practises were introduced in their place. 
Their influence was exceedingly bad in the church, because 
many followed their evil ways. 

"Rev. 2:10. 14 Matt. 5:11, 12. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. IJI 

Paul, in warning against this danger to the church, said: "I 
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter 
in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves 
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples 
after them." 15 Peter also wrote to the churches of this same 
thing, saying: ''There shall be false teachers among you, who 
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord 
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom 
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 16 Those who are far 
away from God are so filled with selfishness that they want others 
to follow them, and they persecute all who differ from their 
ways. They do not know the law of God themselves, and ean 
not understand it in others. 

The heathen generally fear that the gods which they worship 
are angry with them, and that some painful thing must be done 
to pacify them. For this reason they punish themselves with 
stripes, or bruises, or by other painful afflictions, thinking that 
such things will cause their gods to pity them. The heathen 
hopes for a blessing from his gods through pity. The true 
Christian simply trusts in the love of God, and his heart is 
filled with joy. 

The heathen have been taught to pray to the dead, because 
they believe the spirits of the departed can intercede with the 
gods for them. This manner of prayer was brought into the 
church by the unconverted heathen who professed to believe in 
Christ. It was called "the invocation of the saints." The same 
custom is kept up to this day. Some pray to Peter, and some 
to Paul; but many more pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

15 Acts 20: 29, 30. 1G 2 Peter 2:1, 2. 



172 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

All such prayer is a denial of the Lord Jesus, who has bought 
us with His own precious blood. His is the only name given 
under heaven by which man can be saved. 17 But Satan had 
determined on turning Christians away from the Word of God, 
and from their trust in the Saviour; so a constant effort was 
made to have heathen customs practised by the church. 

There were men in those times who gathered bones and other 
relics from the tombs of the dead and elsewhere, and sold them 
to superstitious believers. It was taught by the priests that 
there was some blessed charm about these relics which would 
keep off evil spirits, and do many wonderful things for those 
who possessed them. The relics were sought for, while the 
hearts of the people were filled with blindness, superstition, and 
unbelief. 

Rules were established on purpose to suit the carnal mind, in 
order that greater numbers might be brought into the church. 
For this cause sprinkling and pouring were introduced to take 
the place of baptism. There were those who objected to being 
immersed, or buried in the water, as taught and practised by the 
apostles, and these were sprinkled, or water was poured upon 
them, as best suited their notion. 

That still greater numbers might be counted, children, and 
even infants, were sprinkled and recorded as members. These 
were too young to either choose or believe for themselves; and 
thousands of them grew up without any Christian experience. 
So the church was crowded with the unconverted. 

Many who professed Christianity among the Gentiles had 
been worshipers of the sun, and had regarded the Sunday, or 
the first day of the week, as their holiday. The worldly-minded 

17 Acts 4 : 12. 




The publishing of the "Sunday Edict" by Gonstantine — a messenger of the empire 
affixing to the Wall of a public building the proclamation. 



Note. — " These edicts were sent abroad to the different cities of the em- 
pire in the form of circular letters and posted upon the walls of these cities, 
to be read by the public. The original was often written in the emperor's 
own hand, and from this translated into the different tongues of the empire." 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. 1 75 

among them still desired to retain their Sunday festival, but did 
not love the Lord's Sabbath, which came upon the seventh day 
of the week. Christ had observed the Bible Sabbath while He 
was upon the earth, 18 and the disciples of Christ kept "the 
Sabbath according to the commandment;" 19 but here was a class 
in the church who refused to obey this commandment. Sunday 
was not observed in the church during the lifetime of the 
apostles. Sir William Domville says: "Centuries of the Chris- 
tian era passed away before the Sunday was observed by the 
Christian church as a sabbath. History does not furnish us 
with a single proof or indication that it was at any time so 
observed previous to the sabbatical edict of Constantine." 

Constantine was an emperor of Rome, who made an edict 
or law for Sunday-keeping, and it was published in the year 
a. d. 321. It said: "Let all the judges and townspeople rest on 
the venerable day of the sun ; but let those who are situated 
in the country freely and at full liberty attend to the business of 
agriculture, because it often happens that no other day is so fit 
for sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment 
being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by 
heaven. Given the seventh day of March." Constantine was 
a heathen when he made this law ; but when he professed to 
believe in the Christian religion he still allowed it . to remain 
in force. 

Neander, a church historian, in writing on the subject, says : 
"The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always 
only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intention of 
the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect, far 
from them, and from the early apostolic church to transfer the 

18 Luke 4 : 16. 19 Chapter 23 : 56. 



I76 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

law of the Sabbath to Sunday." It was the emperors and 
princes of the Roman Empire and the bishops and priests of 
the Roman Church who made this change. They did it to 
please the heathen teachers, and the unconverted members in 
the church of those times. The Roman Catholic writers claim 
that their church made the change from Sabbath to Sunday. 

In a Catholic book called "The Abridgment of Christian 
Doctrine," we find this question and answer: "How prove you 
that the church hath power to command fasts and holy days ? 
Ans. — By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday." 
Most of their books on doctrine claim the same thing. The 
Bible, in speaking of the power that should think to make the 
change, says, " He shall speak words against the Most High, 
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall 
think to change the times and the law." 20 That church thought 
itself able to take the Sabbath out of the law of the Most High, 
and place in its stead the Sunday, which rested only upon the 
authority of man. In doing this it put itself in the place of 
God, and asked all the world to bow at its feet. Thus the 
scripture was fulfilled which speaks of a power called "the man 
of sin," "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is 
called God, or that is worshiped ; so that he as God sitteth in 
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 21 

But what had become of the church of Christ? There was 
a very large organization of worldly-minded people who called 
themselves "the church," but the Spirit of Christ was not found 
there. The humble, tender disposition of the Saviour had 
departed; and those who ruled that people were the "grievous 
wolves" of whom Paul wrote. They had come in to devour 
the flock. 

20 Dan. 7 : 25, R. V. n 2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. 



177 



This body of people, assuming to be the church of Christ, 
took control of the Roman Empire, and ruled over the kingdoms 
of the earth. It had religious laws made to suit itself, and 
compelled kings and princes to enforce these laws upon the 
people. This unholy course brought fiery trials upon those 
who were unwilling to obey the dictates of the Roman Church. 




A FUNERAL IN THE CATACOMBS. 



"They Wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and indens and caVes of 

the earth." 



There were three things which might be done in those times. 
The first was to give up faith in Christ and obey the priests of 
Rome ; the second was to refuse this obedience, and be put to 
death ; the third was to hide away in the wilderness or among 
the mountains and in the caves of the earth, and take one's 
chances for life. 

Many chose to leave their homes and flee to the friendly 



12 



iyS THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

wilderness and hills for protection. The Lord had said by His 
prophet, " My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and 
upon every high hill ; yea, My flock was scattered upon all 
the face of the earth." They truly "were stoned, they were 
sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword ; they 
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ; being destitute, 
afflicted, tormented ; . they wandered in deserts, and in 

mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." 23 

These afflictions continued for more than a thousand years, 
during which time millions of God's servants were slain by their 
persecutors. Many were destroyed by the sword, some were 
put to death by strangling, and others were starved in dungeons. 
Great numbers were burned at the stake. Thousands perished 
from cold and nakedness, because they chose to die in that 
manner rather than to be taken by their persecutors to suffer a 
more cruel death. But those who passed through these fiery 
trials gained the victory over the enemy by meekly dying for 
the truth. Said Jesus, "Whosoever shall lose his life for My 
sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it." 24 John had 
written by inspiration, "They overcame him [Satan] by the 
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and 
they loved not their lives unto the death." 20 

For hundreds of years an effort was made to keep the 
Scriptures away from the common people, and even educated 
men seldom saw the Bible. The priests of Rome conducted 
their services in the Latin language, which was not understood 
by many who heard them. But the Lord had ordered the 
Gospel to be preached in all the world and to every creature, 26 
and therefore a change had to take place. 

-Eze. 3 4:6. -Mark 8:35. -Rev. 12:11. 

23 Heb. 11:37, 38. 26 Mark 16:15. 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. 1 79 

A man named John Wycliffe, who lived in England over 
five hundred years ' ago, translated the Scriptures into the 
English language. His death occurred in a. d. 1384; but he 
had started a work, which has gone forward, gaining strength, 
for more than five centuries. Wycliffe has been called the 
"morning star of the Reformation." The priests had tried to 
have the sentence of death passed upon him while he was 
engaged in his work, and forty years after he was dead they 
dug up his body and burned his bones, as a testimony of their 
condemnation of his work. 

John Huss, a Bohemian, born in a. d. 1370, accepted the 
teachings of Wycliffe. He preached the Word of God directly 
to the people, and spoke against the wickedness of the popes 
and the bishops of those times. His writings and public labors 
condemned the sins of the great men of the professed church, 
and this caused them to demand his arrest. When brought to 
trial he stood firmly by the teachings of his life. Because of 
his refusal to change his course of work, or to confess that he 
had been in error, he was burned at the stake in a. d. 14 15. In 
preparing him for death, his enemies placed upon his head a 
crown with frightful pictures of demons painted upon it. He 
received it, saying, " Most joyfully will I w r ear this crown of 
shame for Thy sake, O Lord Jesus, who for me didst wear a 
crown of thorns." In the flames he sang till his voice was 
silenced in death. When his body was consumed, his ashes, 
and the ground upon which they lay, were gathered up and 
thrown into the river Rhine. Jerome, a companion in labor 
with Huss,. was also condemned and burned at the stake the 
following year. 

About one hundred years after Huss and Jerome were 



t8o 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



burned, great numbers of men were raised up to publish abroad 
the Word of God, and to defend its truth. They were found 
in Germany, England, France, Switzerland, Scotland, Holland, 
and other countries at the same time. Perhaps Martin Luther, 
of Germany, was the ablest and boldest of them all; but Ulric 
Zwingli, of Switzerland, William Tyndale, of England, John 




" Most joyfully Will I Wear this croWn of shame for Thy sake, Lord cJesus, Who 
for me didst Wear a croWn of thorns." 

Knox, of Scotland, Louis Berquin, of France, and many others, 
did battle nobly for the same good cause. 

Luther was the first to translate the Scriptures into the 
German language. He had been in school many years before 
he knew of the entire Bible. But finding a Latin copy of it in 
a library, he would read, and then exclaim, " Oh, if God would 
give me such a book as this ! " He became so deeply interested 
in the teaching of God's Word that he felt himself called upon 



THE CHURCH AND ITS ENEMIES. l8l 

to translate and publish it in a language which his countrymen 
could read. 

God sustained Luther in the work which he had undertaken. 
His influence for good was felt over all the Christian world. 
But no man ever met with greater opposition in any cause than 
Luther met from the Roman Catholic Church. At one time he 
was condemned by them to die for his faith, yet Providence 
kept the enemy from taking his life, and at last he died in peace 
in his own bed at Eisleben. 

While Luther was giving the Bible to the people in the 
German language, William Tyndale was translating it into the 
English tongue. He carried his work of translation to greater 
perfection than Wycliffe had done. And as the art of printing 
books was in use at this time, copies of God's Word were 
rapidly multiplied, and put into circulation. The enemy cut 
the life of Tyndale short by strangling him in a. d. 1536, but 
man could not stop his work. That is yet going forward, in its 
influence upon others, which resulted in our common version. 

. At the same time that the Word of God was being published 
in the German and English tongues, Lefevre was translating it 
into the French, and scattering it among the people, to be read 
and obeyed. The work of reform was begun in Holland even 
before it succeeded in Germany; but the preaching and writings 
of Luther, and the bold stand which he took for the Word of 
God, encouraged men in all the nations of Europe to do the 
same thing. Thus from the commencement of Luther's work, 
in about A. d. 15 17, the true Gospel light began to break 
anew upon the nations of the earth. Many persecutions and 
drawbacks have been met, which were designed to check it; but 
it has gone forward, and it must go until it has done its work. 




JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 




H ROUGH every age since Adam fell men have been 
promised a glorious future. In all these years God's 
people have hoped for the time when their lost Para- 
dise would be restored. But before the redeemed 
can see that glad day, Jesus must come again. 

Enoch, of the seventh generation from Adam, exclaimed, 
"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints." 1 
David sang, "He cometh to judge the earth; He shall judge the 
world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." Job 
expressed his hope by saying, " I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." 3 
The joy of a multitude is told in these glad words: 'A.nd it 
shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have 
waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we 
have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His 
salvation." 4 To His disciples Jesus said, "The Son of man 

x Jude 14. 2 Ps. 96:13. 3 Job 19: 25. 4 Isa. 25:9. 

(182) 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 



183 



i> 5 



shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. 
The angels who attended at Christ's ascension said to His 
disciples, as He was passing from their sight, "Ye men of 
Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have 
seen Him go into 
heaven." 6 

To come from 
heaven in the same 
manner in which He 
went to heaven, 
would be to descend 
in a cloud, while 
people behold Him. 
So it is said, "They 
shall see the Son 
of man coming 
in the clouds of 
heaven with power 
and great glory." 7 
"Behold, He cometh 
with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." 8 // is His second 
coming to which the Christian is looking in hope. "And unto 
them which look for Him shall He appear the second time 
without sin unto salvation." 9 "Looking for that blessed hope, 
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour 
Jesus Christ.' 




Behold, He 
cometh with clouds; and every 
eye shall see Him." 



>> 10 



5 Matt. 25 131 

6 Acts 1: 11. 



7 Matt. 24 : 30. 

8 Rev. 1 : 7. 



9 Heb. 9:28. 
10 Titus 2 : 13. 



184 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Then the people of God will see, with their own eyes, Him 
who died for them. As stated by John, "We shall see Him as 
He is." Job wrote, " I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold, and not another.'' But when the redeemed shall see 
Him literally as He is, they will hear Him with His own voice 
tell the sweet story of His love. And who does not want to 
hear the story told ? 

Christ will then crown His people. Said Paul: "I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; 
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His 
appearing." 11 Peter says, "When the Chief Shepherd shall 
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 12 

When Jesus comes again, His children will receive their 
reward in glory. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 13 It has ever 
been the desire of Christ to dwell with His people; and this He 
will do when they are glorified. 

The evidences that Christ is coming soon are many. In 
speaking of those things which should prove the event to be 
nigh at hand, Jesus said, " There shall be signs in the sun, and 
in the moon, and in the stars. " u Following the signs in the 
heavens, there were others to appear on the earth: "Distress of 
nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's 
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth. . . . And then shall they see 
the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." 15 

11 2 Tim. 4 : 7, 8. 13 Co] 3 . 4 " Luke 21 : 25. 

u 1 Peter 5 : 4. 15 Verses 25-27. 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 



185 



Christians are told to rejoice because the Saviour's coming 
is nigh at hand. "And when these things begin to come to 
pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption 
draweth nigh." 16 It is an event to be desired by His people, 
because His coming is the set time to bless Zion. In the 

Gospel by Mark the signs of 
Christ's coming are described 
in these words: "But in those 
days, after that tribulation, 
the sun shall be darkened, 
and the moon shall not give 
her light, and the stars of 
heaven shall fall, and the 
powers that are in heaven shall be 
shaken. And then shall they see 
the Son of man coming in the 
clouds with power and glory." 1 ' 
The first sign here mentioned, the 
darkening of the sun, was fulfilled May 
19, 1780. Rev. Wm. Potter, writing in 
regard to this event, said of the dark- 
ness: "People left their work in the field; travelers stopped; 
schools broke up at eleven o'clock; people lighted candles at 
noonday; and the fire shone as at night. A great part of the 
night was also singularly dark." Webster's Dictionary of 1869 
says of that dark day: " Birds sang their evening songs, dis- 
appeared and became silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought 
the barn-yard, and candles were lighted in the houses. The 
true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known." 

16 Luke 21 : 28. 17 Mark 13 : 24-26. 




" People 

left their 

Work in thefieldj travelers 

stopped." 



186 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 




Horses could not be compelled to leaVe the 
stable When Wanted for service." 



The Boston Gazette of May 22, 1780, speaks of the dark 
day in the following terms: "It grew darker and darker until 
nearly one o'clock, when it became so dark that the inhabitants 
were obliged to quit their business, 
and they had to dine by the light of 
a candle." 

The Connecticut Journal 
of May 25, 1780, said, "The 
greatest darkness was at least 
equal to what is commonly 
called candle - lighting in 
the evening." Herschel, 
the great astronomer, says, 
"The dark day in North 
America was one of those 
wonderful phenomena of na- 
ture which will always be read with interest, but which phi- 
losophy is at a loss to explain." 

The moon refused to shine. The text says, "The moon 
shall not give her light." This sign was accomplished the night 
following the dark day. In Stone's "History of Beverly" it is 
written, "The night succeeding that day [May 19, 1780] was of 
such pitchy darkness that in some instances horses could not be 
compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service." The 
moon had fulled the night previous, and it was not possible for 
an eclipse to occur at that time, yet the darkness was such 
that a white paper could not be seen when held within a few 
inches of the eye. 

Mr. Tenney, of New Hampshire, is reported by the Histor- 
ical Society as saying: "The darkness of the following evening 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 



187 



was probably as gross as has ever been observed since the 
Almighty first gave birth to light. I could not help conceiving 
at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had 
been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of exist- 
ence, the darkness could not have been more complete." That 
night was by some called ''the blackness of darkness." The 
full moon and all the stars of heaven could not light the first 
half of the night. After midnight the darkness began to pass 
away, and then the moon had the appearance of a great ball 
of blood. 

The stars fell from heaven. The next thing foretold by the 
Saviour was the falling of the stars. This was fulfilled by 
millions of shooting stars or me- 
teors falling to the ground in the 
early morning of Nov. 13, 1833. 
The Christian Advocate and Jour- 
nal said of the falling stars: "It 
seemed as if the whole starry 
heavens had congregated at one 
point and were shooting forth 
with the velocity of lightning, 
and yet were not exhausted; 
thousands swiftly followed in 
the track of thousands, as if \ 
they were created for the 
occasion." 

Frederick Douglass, the 
great orator of the colored 

race, describing the falling stars in his book, " My Bondage and 
Freedom," says: "The air seemed filled with bright descending 




The air seemed filled with bright de- 
scending messengers." 



1 88 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw 
this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion at that 
moment, that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the 
Son of man; and in my then state of mind, I was prepared to 
hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the stars 
should fall from heaven, and they were now falling. I was 
suffering in my mind, and I was beginning to look away to 
heaven for the rest denied me on the earth." 

Many thought the end of the world had come, and thousands 
prayed for mercy, because they believed that no other chance 
would be given them. Numerous writers give accounts of the 
falling of the stars, but none tell it better than He who said, 
"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree 
casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." 18 
The very heavens seemed to be shaken at one point, and the 
meteors were thrown from the sky like green fruit from a tree 
when it is shaken by a mighty wind. The stars or meteors did 
not fall straight down to the ground, but were scattered in many 
directions, as snowflakes descending in a storm. 

"The sea and the waves roaring." Following the signs in 
the sun, moon, and stars, other wonderful things were to appear 
on the earth, causing the hearts of men to fail them with fear. 
Mighty waves were to roll in from the sea in fulfilment of 
these words of our Saviour, " The sea and the waves roaring; 
men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those 
things which are coming on the earth." 19 The great waves are 
supposed to be caused by earthquakes in the oceans. 

Recently, in many parts of the world, the seacoasts have 
been overrun by tidal waves. A writer says he saw, on the 

1? Rev. 6 : 13. 19 Luke 21 : 25, 26. 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 



189 



Pacific Coast of South America, the surface of the sea rise up 
like a mountain-side, ' and then rush upon the land. Vessels 
were carried ashore, and villages instantly submerged. At some 
points the waves ran more than sixty feet high. Six hundred 
lives were lost. 

In the month of October, 1876, waves, caused by a cyclone, 

were carried over three islands near 
the mouth of the Ganges River, and 
two hundred and fifteen thousand 
people perished. In the spring of 
1 88 1 the island of Chios, or Scio, in 
the y£gean Sea, was dev- 
astated by earthquakes. 
About four thousand of 
the inhabitants on that 
occasion perished. Ten 
to fifteen thousand were 
injured, and thirty thou- 
sand left homeless. 
During the summer of 
1 89 1 the floods along 
the Yellow River of 
China rendered four 
million people homeless. 
In 1896 a tidal wave 
upon the coast of China destroyed four thousand people. An 
island of Japan was also buried under one of these ocean waves, 
and thirty thousand of the inhabitants were carried down to death. 
These are only a very few of the great multitude of disasters of 
this kind; and they are becoming more frequent as the years go by. 




The surface of the sea rise up like a moun- 
tain-side, and then rush upon the land. Vessels 
Were carried ashore." 



190 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



Stormy winds and cyclones are in evidence. The psalmist 
writes of "the stormy wind fulfilling His word." 20 Within the 
last twenty-five years cyclones and tornadoes have greatly mul- 
tiplied upon the earth, but only a few out of the thousands of 
great storms can be cited. In the year 1874 a tornado passed 

over Hongkong, China, de- 
stroying thirty thousand 
people and fifty million dol- 
lars' worth of property. In 
the summer of 1875, Indian- 
ola, Texas, was ruined by 
a cyclone, and one hundred 
and fifty persons were 
killed. Waterloo, South 
Carolina, was visited by a 
cyclone in the year 1879, 
which tore down one hun- 
dred houses and took the 
lives of fifteen of the in- 
habitants. During the 
month of June, 1882, a 
storm traveled across the 
state of Iowa, and swept 
away more than two mil- 
lion dollars' worth of property, and also destroyed many people. 
In 1883, Racine, Wisconsin; Coventry, Montana; Valparaiso, 
Nebraska; White Pigeon, Michigan; Kansas City and St. Joseph, 
Missouri; Rochester, Minnesota, and many other points were 
struck by cyclones. By these disturbances, thousands of people 

20 Ps. 148 : 8. 




"The stormy Wind fulfilling His Word.' 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. I9I 

were killed or badly wounded, and millions of dollars' worth of 
property was destroyed. A cyclone threw down acres of build- 
ings in Louisville, Kentucky, March 27, 1890, at which time 
one hundred and fifty people died amid falling houses, and 
many more were badly injured. The same year a storm on the 
coast of Japan carried nine hundred fishing boats to sea, and 
every one of the occupants perished. 

But the year 1896 brought greater destruction by storm than 
any previous season. The great tornado which visited St. Louis, 
Missouri, and vicinity, May 27, 1896, killed and injured nearly 
one thousand people. It cut right through the strongest stone 
buildings as though they were but straw in its path. No work 
of man can withstand the power of these winds. The hearts of 
the strongest men fail before them. 

The condition of things in the kingdoms of the world show 
His coming to be near. The nations of the earth have arisen 
and run their course as foretold by the Word of God. The 
prophet Daniel was shown four kingdoms, which should rule the 
world successively from his day till the second coming of Jesus 
Christ. These were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome. 
Babylon, thousands of years ago, fulfilled every point in the 
prophecy which related to that kingdom. Medo-Persia had 
accomplished her work and passed away as a ruling power more 
than three hundred years before Jesus was born. Grecia, also, 
had fulfilled her part of the prophecy one hundred and sixty 
years before the Saviour was cradled in the manger at Beth- 
lehem. 

The kingdom of Rome was ruling the world when Jesus was 
born. It had dominion still when He ascended to heaven, and 
it was to continue a living power until He should come again. 



I92 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Rome was, however, to be divided into ten parts, and is to 
comprise the great kingdoms of western Europe when Jesus 
comes. It was divided more than fifteen hundred years ago, 
and is now ruling, but in many parts. Western Europe is only 
a family of nations, with a number of kings governing one great 
country all at the same time. Daniel still calls it the "fourth 
kingdom," after it is divided. According to the prophecy, it is 
yet Rome in its character. This kingdom shall be strong as iron, 
says the prophet. "The kingdom shall be divided, but there 
shall be in it the strength of the iron." 21 He says, "The king- 
dom shall be partly strong, and partly broken." It was to be 
broken up into a number of parts, but in every part there would 
be the strength of iron. . 

England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc., are all parts 
of the fourth kingdom. This divided kingdom will continue in 
some sort until Christ comes to rule the territory which was 
under the dominion of Rome. These divisions are so nearly 
alike in character that the Lord still calls them the "fourth 
kingdom." 

In speaking of their end, Daniel says, "And in the days of 
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which 
shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to 
other people, but it [the kingdom which God shall set up] shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall 
stand forever." 23 The condition of these kingdoms shows that 
the second coming of Jesus Christ is but a little way off. 

Another sign is the work of evil spirits in the last days. 
When Christ was telling His disciples of the signs which would 
show His coming near, He said, "There shall arise false Christs, 
21 Dan. 2:41. 22 Verse 42. 23 Verse 44. 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIIS. 1 93 

and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders: 
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very 
elect." 24 

There has not been a time in the past when so many lying 
wonders have been performed as at the present. A little less 
than fifty years ago Spiritualism was first manifested in the Fox 
family, in Hydesville, near Rochester, New York. It was then 
called the "Rochester knockings." Since that time it has 
strengthened and spread to every nation of the world. Its 
wonders are seen in thousands of communities. 

But what spirits are doing these wonders? The Bible 
answers: "They are the spirits of devils, working miracles." 25 
Where do they work miracles? and why? Answer — "Which 
go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to 
gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty." 26 
Spiritualism is, therefore, the working of Satan. He works 
through evil spirits or fallen angels, for the purpose of deceiving 
the whole world. This he was to do in the last days, just before 
the coming of Christ. "In the latter times some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of 
devils." 27 Paul says the coming of Christ is to be "after the 
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that 
perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they 
might be saved." 28 

It is the chief object of these spirits to oppose the truth, and 
cause a falsehood to be believed. Whenever they speak they 
claim to be the spirits of the dead who have returned to the 

*« Matt. 24 : 24. a6 j b ' l ~ 1 Tim. 4:1. 

25 Rev. 16 : 14. 28 2 Thess. 2 : 9, 10. 

13 



194 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

earth. They talk, rap, and write. They sometimes make 
themselves to be seen; they give presents and receive gifts. 
They use the same tone of voice, and assume the exact features, 
of persons who have long been dead. Even old familiar stories 
are told by them, to convince the living that their friends which 
have been buried are yet alive. They sometimes shake hands 
and visit with those who go to inquire of the spirits. 

But the whole thing is a deception of Satan to confuse the 
minds of men, that they may not be ready to receive Christ at 
His coming. They who perform the miracles are not the spirits 
of the dead, because, as has been shown, "The dead know not 
anything." 29 The day in which a man dies, "his thoughts per- 
ish." 80 They are the same demoniac spirits which performed 
wonders in ancient times. They are such as talked with the 
wicked king Saul and claimed to be the prophet Samuel. They 
are of the class of spirits which deceived Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 
when Moses asked him to let Israel go. They are like the 
legion of spirits which drove the swine into the sea at Gadara, 
eighteen hundred years ago. 31 These same unclean spirits 
oppose the truth with the lying wonders now, which were to be 
seen just before the time of Christ's coming. 

Knowledge shall increase in the last days. As the prophet 
was looking into the future and beholding the busy scenes of the 
last days, some one said to him, "O Daniel, shut up the words, 
and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run 
to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." 32 

All things are getting ready for the end. Satan is working 
"with all power and signs and lying wonders" to darken the 
minds of men, while the Lord is increasing knowledge and 

* 9 Eccl. 9 : 5. 30 Ps. 146 : 4. 31 See Mark 5:13. 32 Dan. 12:4. 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 



195 




For then no fast trains Were 
run by land." 



sending the light of truth to 
every people. Daniel was 
looking forward to the present 
time, when many are running r;\ 
to and fro, and knowledge is 
bsing increased. Traveling 
tends to an increase of knowl- 
edge. Through intercourse with 
the world we learn of what is going 
on in every part. Travelers gather 
up knowledge from all the earth. 

But this could not have been 
done one hundred years ago as it is 
done now. For then no fast trains 
were run by land, nor did steamships travel the sea. Electric 
cars were not then rushing on the streets, nor bicycles speeding 
on the roads. Neither telegraphs nor telephones were in use. 
Typesetting was all done by fingers, and presses were run by 
hand; then printing was comparatively a slow business. Harvests 
were cut with a hand sickle, and grain pounded out with a flail. 
Spinning, knitting, weaving, and sewing were all done by hands 
and fingers. The work on the farm and in the shop was 

mostly performed in the same slow way. 

Nearly every minute from early morning 

till late in the night was required to 

do necessary work; therefore but 

' little time was left for study. 

Money was scarce, and books 

were few and high in price A 

Nor did steamships travel the sea." newspaper was seldom seen. As 




I96 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the mails were slow, and postage was charged up according to 
distance, very few letters were received. Under these circum- 
stances it was difficult to gain knowledge. 

But within a very few years a remarkable change has come 
over the world in these respects. Men and mails can now 
travel a thousand miles a day. The news which once required 
a year to cross over land and sea can now be sent by telegraph 
in a minute. The speeches of men can now be printed on a 
thousand presses, and read by the people of many countries, the 
very day upon which they are delivered. 

Christ announced that when the signs in the sun, moon, and 
stars had been fulfilled, His coming would be near, even at the 
doors. " Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch 
is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is 
nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know 
that it is near, even at the doors." 33 

When the trees bud and begin to put forth their leaves, and 
the grass springs up green from the ground, all know that 
summer will soon be present. So likewise may it be known 
that Christ's coming is near, even at the doors, when these 
signs are fulfilled. So near is the Saviour's coming, then, that 
some of that generation who saw the last one of these signs, the 
falling of the stars, will see the coming of the Lord. "Verily I 
say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things 
be fulfilled." 34 

"Coming, coming, coming! Who? 
Christ, the Lord of life and glory, 
He who once for me and you 

Died! — oh, depth of sin's sad story! 

33 Matt. 24 : 32, 33. 34 Verse 34. 



JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. 1 97 

Coming, not a helpless stranger, 
Cradled in the friendless manger; 
Coming, Lord of earth and heaven! 
King! to whom all power is given; 
Judge! at whose all-searching bar 
All must stand, just what they are; 
And the wicked tell with shame 
Why they've cursed His holy name. 

"Coming,- coming, coming! How? 

Clothed in strange, unearthly splendor, 
Glory men ne' er dream of now, 

Grandeur earth ne'er had attend her. 
At His sight the heavens shall wither, 

From His presence earth shall flee, 
Islands move, and mountains thither 

Seek the caverns of the sea. 
Every eye shall then behold Him, 

All the nations feel His ire; 
While the brightness that eniolds Him, 

Is to them consuming fire. 
Thunders all the air shall thrill, 

All the heavens with lightnings blaze, 
And the universe stand still, 

While through all its realms is heard 

That profound, omnific word 
Which to life the dead shall raise. 

"Coming, coming, coining! When? 

Ah! that question, solemn, thrilling! 
For when He appeareth, then 

All their earthly scenes fulfilling, 
His sure word shall have an end. 

And, behold, the day is near! 
Signs in heaven and earth portend 

That the Lord will soon appear. 
Angry tones through wars proclaim it, 
Scoffers by their scoffing name it, 
And the mute and solemn sky 
Has hung forth its prophecy. 



198 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



Coming! while we wait and dally. 

Coming! while we sleep in sin. 
Swift as light o'er hill and valley, 

That great day is coming in. 
Sinner, rouse thee to thy fate. 
Saint, be watchful at thy gate. 
Saviour, make us meet t' appear 
At Thy coming, now so near. ' ' 



— Uriah Smith. 






'4dr 



PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING. 




HE Saviour will not return to this earth without warn- 
ing the world of His coming. Missionaries will be 
sent with the Gospel message to all people, that a 
chance may be given them to prepare for the judg- 
ment hour. In past ages the Lord has not failed to forewarn 
the people of any important event which was coming upon 
them. Therefore it was said, * 'Surely the Lord God will do 
nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the 
prophets." 1 

Before the flood Noah was sent to warn the people of the 
destruction which was coming. The plagues did not fall upon 
Egypt until Moses and Aaron had made known unto them the 
judgments which were threatened. Jeremiah faithfully labored 

1 Amos 3 : 7. 

( J 99) 



200 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



with Israel, and plead with them to turn away from their sins, 
before they were carried into Babylon. He also sent men with 
the same kind message to Edom and Moab, and to the kings of 
Ammon, of Tyre, and of Sidon. 2 

Jesus Christ was not made known to Israel as the Saviour 

until John the Baptist had first 
announced His coming and work. 
The preaching of 
John, in preparing 
the way before the 
Lord, was foretold in 
these words: "Behold, 
I will send My messenger, and 
he shall prepare the way before 
Me." 3 As John the Baptist was 
sent to get ready a people for the 
Saviour's first coming, so 
must Gospel teachers go 
forth to proclaim His second 
coming, and thus prepare a people 
to meet Him. John, to whom 
the Revelation was given, was 
shown these messengers going 
forth with their work. To him 
they were revealed under the figure of an angel preaching the 
everlasting Gospel to every kindred. His words are: "And I 
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and 
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying 

2 See Jer. 2:7. 3 Mal. 3: 1. 




And I saw another 
angel fly in the midst 
of heaVenj having the 
everlasting Gospel." 



PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING. 201 

with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the 
hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made 
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."' 

The hearts of Christians must be weaned from the world and 
from every idol before they can long for the Saviour's return. 
All sin must be forsaken by them. In writing of the work to be 
done for those who will be waiting to meet Jesus, the prophet 
says, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but 
the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall 
understand." The worldly-mindedness and the corrupt prac- 
tises of the unconverted blind their minds and make it impossi- 
ble for them to understand. Solomon says, "Wickedness over- 
throweth the sinner." 6 "They would none of My counsel; they 
despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat the fruit of 
their own way, and be filled with their own devices." 7 

The condition of both classes is thus stated: "Behold, the 
darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; 
but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen 
upon thee." At Christ's coming the wicked will be found filled 
with darkness; but the righteous will be seen dwelling in the 
light which the everlasting Gospel will cause to shine upon their 
way. The lamps of the waiting ones will be trimmed and burn- 
ing. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 
and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when 
he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and 
knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are 
those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find 
watching." 9 

4 Rev. 14 : 6 , 7. 6 Prov. 13:6. 8 Isa. 60 : 2. 

5 Dan. 12:10. < Chapter 1 : 30, 31. 9 Luke 12 : 35-37. 



202 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION 



In the above scripture is a beautiful lesson drawn from the 
ancient custom of weddings. The bridegroom prepared wed- 
ding garments for all the guests who were expected at the 
marriage supper. No garments were allowed to be worn except 
those which the bridegroom had made especially for the occa- 
sion. The wedding usually took place 
in the night. The bridegroom went 
to the home of the 
bride to receive her, 
and then returned to 
the place where the 
guests were in wait- 
ing. Every guest 
was required to have 
a lamp trimmed and 
burning brightly 
when the bridegroom 
arrived. The wed- 
ding garments were 
all to be neatly fitted 
on every person in 
the company. All 
were to be wide- 
awake, and in the 
best possible condition to make everything agreeable. During 
these waiting moments the return of the bridegroom was the 
chief subject of thought and conversation. 

In the same manner as these garments were all ready and 
waiting for the bridegroom to return with his bride, so must 
Christ's people be ready and waiting for Him to return. As 




"Every 
guest 
Was re- 
quired to have a lamp 

trimmed and burning brightly When the bridegroom 
arrived." 



PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING. 203 

those who were called to that supper were refused a place at the 
table unless they had on the wedding garments; so none will be 
received when Jesus comes except those who wear the wedding 
garment of righteousness, which He has prepared for His 
waiting guests. The good works of God's people, apart from 
Jesus Christ, will not be sufficient to save them. Not one will 
be able to stand in that day save those who are clothed with the 
garment of salvation, woven in the loom of heaven, by Jesus 
Christ. 

"Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall 
stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire, and 
like fuller's soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier 
of silver." 10 As the refiner sits before the heated furnace 
to watch the silver as it is melted and the worthless dross 
removed, so will Christ lead His people, if need be, through 
the furnace of affliction, that they may be purified from every 
stain of sin. Or, as the fuller, by heating, washing, and ironing, 
prepares the finest cloth for the market, so will Christ bring 
His people through the trials of the last days, and perfect them 
for heaven. They will then be presented to Him "a glorious 
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." 11 
Every sin will have been confessed, and every evil will have 
been put away by those who are ready and waiting for the 
coming of the Lord. In describing them, John says, "In their 
mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before 
the throne of God." 12 And of them the Lord declares, "Here 
is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the 
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 13 

Closely following the above announcement, John says, "And 

10 Mai. 3 :2, 3. u Eph. 5 : 27. 12 Rev. 14 : 5. 13 Verse 12. 



204 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One 
sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden 
crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." 14 It is therefore 
evident that when Jesus comes upon the white cloud He will 
find a people ready to meet Him. It is also further evident 
that this same people will be found in faith, keeping all the 
commandments of God. 

A further view of the waiting church of Christ is given in 
the following language: "The dragon was wroth with the 
woman [the church of Christ], and went to make war with 
the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of 
God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 15 The word 
"remnant" means the last part of a thing or people. Another 
has written of them in these words: "The remnant of Israel 
shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful 
tongue be found in their mouth." 16 Their faithfulness in keep- 
ing the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, arouses the wrath of the dragon, and brings upon them 
a storm of persecution. Satan does not object to a people 
keeping some of God's commandments, provided they will 
transgress others; but he declares war upon that church which 
will keep all the commandments. 

There is in the land a Christian people who endeavor to 
obey every one of the ten commandments, through faith in 
Jesus Christ. This includes the observance of the seventh 
day of the week as the Sabbath. They do not believe that 
the first day of the week, or Sunday, is the Lord's Sabbath, 
therefore they do not observe it as a sacred day. Because 
of their faith and practise in this matter, many of them have 
14 Rev. 14: 14. 15 Chap. 12 : 17. 16 Zeph. 3 : 13. 



PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING. 205 

been sent to prison, and others have been committed to the 
chain-gang, classing them with the worst of criminals. The 
first arrest and imprisonment of any of these people was 
in Arkansas, in 1885. Since that time Tennessee, Georgia, 
Maryland, Mississippi, and other states have joined in the 
persecution. Counting from the beginning of this persecution 
in 1885, up to September, 1896, there have been about one 
hundred forty cases of imprisonment of Christian Sabbath- 
keepers, those who kept the same day that Jesus kept. During 
this period the time spent in confinement by these persons 
aggregated seventeen hundred thirty-eight days. Eight hundred 
ten of these days were served in the chain-gang in Tennessee. 

It was admitted on all sides that those who were arrested 
were excellent citizens, with the exception that they worked 
on Sunday. Still those who inform against them often do 
Sunday work themselves. Numerous other people in the same 
neighborhood do various things in violation of the Sunday 
laws, yet they are not molested. As a rule, none but those 
who keep the Sabbath according to the Bible commandment 
are fined and imprisoned because of Sunday labor; that is only 
the pretext. They go very quietly about their business on 
Sundays, so as not to disturb the peace of any who desire to 
keep the day. But their persecutors, ignorant of what they 
are doing, have determined to make war upon them, and 
therefore spy around to discover them at work, and then send 
officers to have them arrested. 

Notwithstanding the trials through which they pass, their 
courage is good. They hope for deliverance soon; and they 
expect the conflict to continue until Jesus comes. "Yea, and 
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 17 

17 2 Tim. 3 : 12. 



206 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



The Lord encourages His people in this conflict, saying to 
them, " Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened 
unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's 
sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
glad also with exceeding joy." 18 

The time of the revealing of His glory is near. The apostle 
speaks of a time when the people of God should awake out of 
sleep. "For now," says he, "is our salvation nearer than when 
we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let 
us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on 
the armor of light." 19 The time in which we are now living 
is of the most intense moment. Soon it will be too late to 
put away sin. There will be no repentance after Jesus comes. 
As the Saviour closes His priestly work in heaven, it will be 
said: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which 
is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let 
him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy 
still. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with 
Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." 20 

18 1 Peter 4: 12, 13. 19 Rom. 13:11, 12. 20 Rev. 22:11, 12. 






VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

HEN everything has been made ready for His coming, 

"the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with 

a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the 

trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1 

The voice of Jesus will awake His sleeping children, for His 

words are spirit and life. They may have slumbered long, yet 

the Son of God can bring them to life again. "Thy dead men 

shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake 

and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of 

herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." The risen saints 

will be changed to immortality by the same voice that raises the 

dead, and "then we which are alive and remain shall be caught 

up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 

air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 3 

When Jesus comes again, all the holy angels will be with 

Him. 4 "And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a 

trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect." At all 

* i Thess. 4 : 16. tj Thess> 4 . iy * Matt. 25 : 31. 

-Isa. 26 : 19. 5 Chapter 24 : 31. 

(207) 



2o8 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



graves where the saints come forth will angels be ready to receive 
and gather them to meet the Lord in the cloud of glory. Two 
classes of saints will meet the Lord in that day. One class will 
be those who now sleep in Jesus, and who will then be raised 

from the dead. Another class 
will be the rio-hteous who will 
be alive at His coming, and who 
will then be changed to immor- 
tality. In speaking of this, the 
apostle says, "Behold, I show 
you a mystery: We shall not all 
* I sleep, but we shall all be changed, 
in a moment, in the twinkling 
of an eye, at the last trump; for 
the trumpet shall sound, and 
the dead shall be raised in- 
corruptible, and we shall be 
changed." b He then shows 
that the saints receive im- 
mortality, or undying na- 
tures, in the very moment 
when they are changed: "For 
this corruptible must put on 
incorruption, and this mortal 
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have 
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immor- 
tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory." 7 

The righteous will come forth to life, free from pain; an 

6 i Cor. 15 : 51, 52. • Verses 53, 54. 




Awake and 
sing, ye that 
dwell in dust." 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 209 

open grave will be before their eyes, and angels will be by their 
side. Then they will understand that death is forever past, and 
with joy will they sing: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy victory?" 8 Neither the grave nor death can ever 
hold them more. It will be victory, final and complete, over 
every foe. What joy. will fill the hearts of the redeemed when 
they realize that Jesus has come! They will know that He is 
the source of their gladness, and with immortal tongues they 
can sing: "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." 9 The Gospel prophet foresaw 
the glad rising again of the righteous dead: "Thy dead men 
shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake 
and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of 
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." 10 

The day of His coming will be a day of transcending bright- 
ness. There will be the glory of millions of angels, the glory of 
Jesus, and the brightness of the Father's glory, manifested at 
Christ's coming. "He shall come in His own glory, and in His 
Father's, and of the holy angels." 11 This glory will be as a 
flaming fire to the wicked, and will destroy them from off the 
earth. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with 
His mighty angels, in flaming "fire taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 12 

Because of the revelation of that glory the ungodly will call 
for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, that they may be 
hidden from its power. Amazed and terrified at what they 
behold, they will seek to hide themselves in dens and among 

8 1 Cor. 15:55. "Isa. 26:1a "Luke 9: 26. 

9 Verse 57. y 12 2 Thess. 1 : 7, 8. 

14 



2IO THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the rocks. 13 But neither dens nor mountains can shelter them 
from that glory, which will be brighter than many noonday suns. 
In despair, they will cry out, "The great day of His wrath is 
come; and who shall be able to stand?" 14 That glory will reach 
every hiding-place, and slay the wicked who may be living to 
behold the coming of Christ. 

But that glory will be a joy to the righteous. "He shall 
come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them 
that believe . . . in that day." 15 " I will behold Thy face in 
righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy like- 
ness." lb The saints themselves will be glorified and shine as 
the light. And they will be able to stand and rejoice in that day. 
"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." 17 "Blessed 
are the pure' in heart; for they shall see God." 18 "Now we see 
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." 19 

Not a child of God will be forgotten. As the dead are 
buried out of sight, the question is often asked, " If a man die, 
shall he live again?" 20 Can those who molder to dust in the 
grave ever come forth to live again? Will the lips closed by 
death answer when Jesus calls ? Hear the patriarch's reply: "All 
the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. 
Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee." 21 The righteous are 
waiting God's appointed time till all things are ready. In this 
life the Christian longs to meet his Saviour, but the Saviour also 
desires to meet the Christian at the resurrection of the just, 
lesus knows where every one is resting; and at the set time He 
will call them forth to immortality. "Thou wilt have a desire to 
the work of Thine hands." 22 He desires to see His people in the 

« Rev. 6 : 15, 16. £» Thess " * : IO ' ^ 5 = 8. „ Verses 

"Verse 17. "PS-^iS. »i Cor. 13: 12. „ V erse 15. 

17 Isa. 33 : 17. 2U Job 14:14. 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 211 

enjoyment of the life and home which await them. "He shall 
see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." 23 "Father, 
I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me 
where I am; that they may behold My glory." 2i 

The redeemed will then be perfect. Neither death nor pain 
can ever touch them again. Every form will be complete. He 
"shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto 
His glorious body." 20 In describing that state, the Saviour says, 
"They are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, 
being the children of the resurrection." 26 

The curse of sin has marred man's beauty, and dwarfed and 
deformed his body until his features are uncomely. Sorrow or 
disease or old age leave their marks upon all faces. But "He 
will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe 
away tears from off" all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall 
He take away from off all the earth." 27 No trace of sorrow will 
be left. Every organ will be perfect. No dimness can becloud 
any eye. All ears shall be made to hear, and tongues enabled to 
talk. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears 
of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap 
as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." Then songs of 
praises will be sung by mouths that have been dumb in this life. 
Ears shall then delight in music which never heard the sound of 
a note here. Crippled ones, who have never had the use of 
their limbs in this world, will then be active and free, as the hart 
upon the mountains. Eyes that have never yet looked upon 
the beauties of the heavens and the earth will then behold the 
fulness of God's glory in all His works. So complete will be 

'^Isa. 53:11. 25 Phil. 3:21. 27 Isa. 25:8. 

24 John 17 : 24. 26 Luke 20 : 36. 28 Chapter 35 : 5, 6. 



2 I 2 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the glory of that redemption that Jesus says, "Then shall the 
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." 9 
Some have thought that God can not raise those to life again 
who have returned to dust. But the prophet in vision beheld 
the raising of the dead. He says: "And the bones came together, 
bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the 
flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above." 
"And the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up 
upon their feet." And the Lord speaks further through His 
prophet, "Ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened 
your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your 
graves." 30 The question will be settled when the graves open, 
and God's people come forth into life equal unto the angels. 

THE SECOND RESURRECTION. 

In the Revelation John was shown that the righteous "lived 
and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Of the wicked, 
which are called "the rest of the dead," he writes, "But the rest 
of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were fin- 
ished."' 1 Their resurrection, therefore, does not take place till 
the thousand years are past. Concerning the righteous he says, 
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; 
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests 
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand 
years." 32 The second death here presented is the death which 
the wicked will die after they are raised from the dead. This 
can not take place till the thousand years are finished. It will 
be considered in the next chapter. 

29 Matt. 13 : 43. 30 Eze. 37 : 7, 8, 10, 13. 31 Rev. 20 : 4, 5. ™ Verse 6. 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 213 

Scripture evidence has been given in past cnapters that the 
earth will at last be given to the redeemed, but the curse of sin 
must first be removed. Satan and wickedness have defiled this 
world, and it must be purified from its corruption before the 
saints of God possess it. The judgment of the wicked dead 
will take place after Jesus comes and raises His people to life. 
And God's people must have a place of abode in the time of this 
judgment. The prophecy says that judgment is to be " given to 
the saints of the Most High." 33 In the book of Revelation John 
says, " I saw thrones, and they [the saints] sat upon them; and 
judgment was given unto them." 34 It is during the time of this 
judgment that they shall live and reign with Christ a thousand 
years. 

Jesus told His disciples that He would ascend to heaven to 
prepare a place for His people, and He added, "If I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." 35 It is to this 
place, which Christ prepares while He is in heaven, that the 
saints will be taken when they are raised from the dead. There, 
in the "Father's house," Jesus will receive them unto Himself. 
In this world they have had sorrows and trials sore, but they will 
receive a glorious reward in the place that Christ has gone to 
make ready. 

After entering the cloud of glory, they will ascend with Jesus 
and the angels to the city of God. "In that day shall this song 
be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation 
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, 
that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter 
in." God's people will then know what it means to appear in 

33 Dan. 7:22. 34 Rev. 20:4. 35 John 14:3. 36 Isa. 26: 1, 2. 



214 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

glory with their Saviour. The great desire of Christ, as told by 
the apostle, is to "present you faultless before the presence of 
His glory with exceeding joy." John, in vision, heard the 
songs of joy which they will sing after reaching heaven. "And 
after these things I heard a great voice of much people in 
heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and 
power, unto the Lord our God." 38 

They will speak of the judgments that have just been visited 
upon the wicked and persecuting nations of the earth, and then 
shout, "Alleluia," again. The angels and elders around the 
throne will then unite with them in worship and praise to God. 
Afterward a voice from the throne will say, "Praise our God, all 
ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great." 

And in response to this, the seer of Patmos says, "I heard 
as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of 
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 
Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 40 The song 
which will be sung when Jesus gathers His people to heaven 
will tell of a reward so glorious that pen can not describe it. 
And those who are washed and made white in the blood of the 
Lamb shall then "hunger no more, neither thirst any more; 
. . . for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall 
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; 
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 41 

37 Jude 24 . ^ verse 5. *° Verse 6. 

38 Rev. 19: 1. 41 Chapter 7 : 16, 17. 




THE SAINTS INHERIT THE EARTH. 




HOUGH the saints ascend to heaven when Jesus 
comes, yet at the appointed time they will return to 
the earth. It has ever been the purpose of God to 
give the earth to His people. "He created it not in 
vain, He formed it to be inhabited.." 1 "The earth hath He given 
to the children of men." 2 "Blessed are the meek; for they shall 
inherit the earth." 3 "As truly as I live, all the earth shall be 
filled with the glory of the Lord."" 

It is well understood by those who believe the Bible that the 
curse of sin has filled the earth with sorrow and desolation. 
But Christ, through redemption, will remove the curse and 
restore the earth. "For the Son of man is come to save that 
which was lost." The psalmist says: "In His days shall the 
righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon 
endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and 



^sa. 45: 18. 
2 Ps. 115 : 16. 



'Matt. 5:5. 



4 Num. 14 : 21. 

5 Matt. 18:11. 

(215) 



2l6 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

from the river unto the ends of the earth." 6 The earth has 
been filled with sorrow and crying, and the inspired psalmist 
utters this petition: "Let the whole earth be filled with His 
glory." 7 

In the beginning the earth was made to be an abode for 
man; and man was then created and placed in possession of his 
home. But in the early history of the race they so corrupted 
the world that it was deluged by a flood of waters, which 
destroyed the wicked out of it. After the flood, the earth was 
given to Noah, a man of righteousness. When sinners again 
arose and corrupted the earth, the Lord called a righteous man 
from among his kindred, and gave the world by promise to him 
and to his seed. The name Abraham was given to the man 
thus called. The meaning of this name is "the father of a 
multitude," or "the father of nations." 

The promise made to Abraham was in these words: "And I 
will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed 
after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be 
a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give 
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art 
a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting posses- 
sion." 8 The Lord repeated the substance of this promise to 
Abraham a number of times. He also gave the same to Isaac 
and to Jacob, and included in the promises all the heirs of faith. 
He confirmed it all unto Abraham by an oath, saying, "By 
Myself have I sworn . . . that in blessing I will bless thee, 
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; . 
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 

6 Ps. 72:7, 8. 7 Verse 19. 8 Gen. 17:7,8. 9 Chapter 22 : 16-18. 



>) 9 



THE SAINTS INHERIT THE EARTH. 21 J 

Paul says that to Abraham was made "the promise, that he 
should be the heir of the world." 10 The martyr Stephen, in his 
speech before the Jewish council, showed that neither Abraham 
nor his seed had received the promised inheritance: "He [the 
Lord] gave him none inheritance in it [the land which was 
promised], no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He prom- 
ised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his 
seed after him." 11 When Stephen delivered this discourse, he 
was on trial before the council of the Jews for his faith in Christ. 
Before that body of men he declared the truthfulness of Chris- 
tianity, basing his conclusions upon the promises which God 
had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He showed, by argu- 
ments which they could not deny, that the promises made to 
their fathers must all be fulfilled through Christ. He proved 
that their title to an inheritance must be received in the name of 
Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had denied and crucified. He 
was summing up these Bible truths in such a convincing manner 
that they became enraged and stoned him to death in order to 
stop his testimony. 

As these promises to the patriarchs had not been fulfilled at 
the time Stephen gave this testimony, and have not been ful- 
filled since that time, it remains for them to be fulfilled to the 
people of God in the future. Therefore it is written, "Ye are 
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." "And if ye 
be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to 
the promise." In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews we read 
of Abel, Enoch, Noah, .Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, 
Moses, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, Samuel, David, of the proph- 
ets, of holy women, and many others, that none of them had 

10 Rom. 4:13. u Acts 7: 5. 12 Gal. 3 : 26, 29. 



2l8 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

received the fulfilment of the promises when that epistle was 
written. Even to Enoch, who ascended to heaven without 
dying, the promises had not been fulfilled. Nothing short of 
an everlasting inheritance in the earth made new can accomplish 
this promise. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with all the 
redeemed, will then receive their share in the reward. 

It has been shown that the saints will ascend to heaven and 
remain there a thousand years. Evidence has also been given 
that the wicked dead will be resurrected at the end of the thou- 
sand years. During the time between the resurrection of these 
two classes, the wicked are to be judged. Of the righteous it is 
said: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judg- 
ment was given unto them; . . . and they lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years." 13 They take part in the exami- 
nation of the judgment books relating to the cases of the 
wicked. But the lost will remain silent in death during that 
time. "But the rest of the dead [the ungodly] lived not again 
until the thousand years were finished."" 

While the saints are in heaven, and the wicked lie in their 
graves, Satan will have no one to deceive. But the resurrection 
which will take place when the thousand years are finished, will 
fill the world with sinners. The company which shall come up 
then will be composed of all those who died in sin. What an 
unholy throng that will be ! Satan can then begin his work 
again; therefore it is said: 'When the thousand years are 
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go 
out to deceive the nations [the resurrected wicked] which are in 
the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them 
together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the 

13 Rev. 20:4. u Verse 5. 



THE SAINTS INHERIT THE EARTH. 2ig 

sea." The Saviour, with His people and the holy city, will have 
descended from heaven when Satan gathers the ungodly host 
! together. "And they [the wicked] went up on the breadth of 
the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the 
beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and 
devoured them." 15 

The fire which shall descend will utterly consume the wicked, 
and they shall be seen no more forever. As declared by our 
Lord, "They that have done evil" shall come forth "unto the 
resurrection of damnation." 16 Of their reward it is written, 
"And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 17 "And 
they shall be as though they had not been." 18 "For yet a little 
while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently 
consider his place, and it shall not be." "The wicked shall 
perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; 
they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." "He 
passed away, and, lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he 
could not be found." 19 

Both Satan and sinners will be destroyed. "Behold, the 
day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, 
and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that 
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall 
leave them neither root nor branch." 20 As wickedness, both 
root and branch, is to be destroyed, Satan himself must be 
included in the destruction, because he is the root of all sin. 
We read in the book of Hebrews that the Saviour took upon Him- 
self man's infirmities and died in them, "that through death He 
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." 21 

15 Rev. 20 : 7-9. 1T James 1 : 15. w Mai. 4:1. 

16 John 5 : 29. 18 Obadiah 16. 21 Chapter 2 : 14. 

19 Ps. 37: 10, 20, 36. 



220 



THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 



When sin and sinners are gone, to appear no more forever, 
there will be nothing left to oppose the kingdom of Christ. His 
mission is to redeem His people, remove the curse, renew the 
earth, and give it into the hands of those who will use it in 
harmony with God's original purpose. The apostle John, in 
vision, saw Christ make the world new. He heard the words 
spoken when "He that sat upon the throne said, 
Behold I make all things new." The redeemed 




Rippling brooks will begin to flow, and the desert like 
Eden shall bloom. . . . The desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose." 



will actually hear Jesus speak these words. 
They will also behold the mighty working 
of His power in restoring the earth from the curse of sin. 
They will look out over the desolate world as Jesus says, 
"Behold," and just then will arise to view in every place, things 
more beautiful than were seen by Adam before he transgressed. 
Beautiful trees will appear, and fruitful vines spring up, while 
rippling brooks will begin to flow, and the desert like Eden shall 

22 Rev. 21:5. 



THE SAINTS INHERIT THE EARTH. 22 1 

bloom. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for 
them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It 
shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; 
the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of 
Carmel and Sharon." 123 

The Power which made the earth in the beginning can make 
it even more beautiful than at the first. There will be nothing 
left to remind us of the curse. Desert lands will be made fruit- 
ful. Rough places will become smooth. The air will be 
pleasant. Every song shall be full of melody, and all hearts 
glad with praise. There shall be no cry of oppression nor tortur- 
ing pain. "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting 
nor destruction within thy borders." 24 "Thy people also shall 
be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of 
My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified." 25 
' 'The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom 
under the whole' heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
saints of the Most High; whose kingdom is an everlasting 
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." 26 
Christ's kingdom is to be located in this earth where Adam was 
given dominion. The earth, where man has been in conflict 
with Satan, is where he will enjoy the victory through Christ. 
"And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him." "But 
the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess 
the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." 27 

The gentle nature which the animals possessed before sin 
entered the world will be enjoyed by those which shall be created 

23 Isa. 35 : i, 2. « Verse 21. 26 Dan. 7 : 27. 

2i Chapter 60 : 18. 27 Verses 14, 18. 



22 2 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

for the new earth. The condition is stated thus by the prophet: 
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the 
fading together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow 
and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox." 28 

Before man was cast out of Eden he was commanded to 
dress and keep the garden; 29 and when his redemption is, com- 
plete, and the earth renewed, he will be given a pleasant occupa- 
tion. "They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall 
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, 
and another inhabit, they shall not plant, and another eat; for as 
the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall 
long enjoy the work of their hands." 30 

In the present life people build houses, and soon they die and 
leave them, or the home is sold, and another inhabits it. Per- 
chance the fire consumes it, and the labor of years is destroyed 
in an hour. A short life of pain and disappointment carries man 
down to a cold, damp grave; and his children after him live and 
die in like manner. But in the glorious new earth there will be 
no grief. Then "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." 31 
There, old age will not dim the eye, nor lessen the strength of 
men. No blight, no rust, nor decay will be found in that land. 

O, who will go to that home of the blest, 
Where time never dims a mansion of rest; 
Where years and cycles shall burnish the gold, 
As age after age their beauties unfold? 

28 Isa. ii : 6, 7. 29 See Gen. 2 : 15. 31 Chapter 33 : 24. 

30 Isa. 65: 21, 22. 



*&Fi$B % 







j&mzs&Mis^a 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 




CONNECTED with the kingdom of Christ is a royal 
city that excels by far anything which the eyes of 
man have ever beheld. Every organized government 
has a capital, where its officers meet to transact busi- 
ness for the country. Such a place is called the seat of govern- 
ment. So also a real city of surpassing grandeur belongs to the 
kingdom of Christ, and within it is the throne of His power. 

The name, Jerusalem, was given to the chief city of Israel, 
where the throne of David was located. But the great city 
which contains the throne of Christ, is called "New Jerusalem," 
"Holy Jerusalem," 1 "Heavenly Jerusalem," "City of God," 3 
"City of the Great King." 4 Other titles are also given to it. 

The city must now be where Christ is. Paul speaks of the 
Jerusalem which is above to distinguish it from the Jerusalem 
which is on the earth. It is found where the angels reside, and in 
the place where God sits as Judge. "But ye are come unto 
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly 

3 Ps. 87:3. 

(223) 



1 Rev. 21 : 2, 10. 
- Heb. 12 : 22.' 



4 Ps. 48 : 2. 

5 Gal. 4:26. 



224 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the 
general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written 
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all." 6 It was of the 
heavenly Jerusalem that Christ was speaking just before His 
crucifixion, when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you." 7 
The city is therefore builded in the place where Jesus has gone- 
It will descend from heaven to the earth. When the earth 
shall be made new, and the kingdom of Christ located under the 
whole heaven, the New Jerusalem will also be within its borders. 
Therefore of his vision the apostle writes: "And I John saw 
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The 
thousand years of judgment were just closing as he saw the city 
descend, complete in every part, and shining with a splendor 
which made the angel anxious to have the apostle behold its 
glory. "And he [the angel] carried me [John] away in the spirit 
to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, 
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having 
the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most 
precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." 9 John not 
only saw it descend from heaven, but he beheld the city upon the 
earth. "And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
honor into it." 10 The nations here mentioned are those saved 
by the blood of Christ out of every kindred, tongue, and people 
— those who will live in and belong to that kingdom. 

The apostle carefully noted the measure of the wonderful city 
as the angel passed around its walls with a measuring rule. 
"And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the 

6 Heb. 12:22, 23. 8Rey 2I;2 9 Verses 10, 11. 

7 John 14:2. 10 Verse 24. 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 



225 



city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city 
lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth; and 
he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. 
The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." 11 
According to the ancient manner of measuring walled cities, 
the circumference, the distance around it, was measured. The 
whole distance around the New Jerusalem is twelve thousand 




"And shining With a splendor which made the angel anxious to have the apostle 

behold its glory." 



furlongs. There are eight furlongs in one mile, and in twelve 
thousand furlongs there would be fifteen hundred miles. As four 
sides of the city make fifteen hundred miles, so must one side 
be equal to one-fourth of fifteen hundred, or three hundred and 
seventy-five miles. It therefore contains one hundred and forty 
thousand six hundred and twenty-five square miles, or ninety 
millions of acres. This is a larger area than the states of Ohio, 
Indiana, and Illinois combined. It is about as large as three 



11 Rev. 21 : 15, 16. 



15 



2 26 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

states like New York. It is greater in extent than the countries 
of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Switzerland put to- 
gether. How small are the cities of the world compared to 
the heavenly Jerusalem ! 

The city is square, and has four sides of equal length, so that 
its buildings and streets are all arranged in perfect order and 
harmony. As Jesus was telling His disciples what He would do 
for them after ascending to heaven, He said, "In My Father's 
house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told 
you." 12 Many are the mansions in God's universe; and our 
Lord has promised to prepare places for His people. David sings 
of the palaces and "towers" in "the city of the great King." 13 

The Lord's people have generally been poor in this world, 
and many of them have not owned even a cheap home. But 
could they look into the heavenly Jerusalem, and behold what is 
waiting for them, they would see buildings richer than any king 
can make; for it is said, "The city was pure gold." 14 The heirs 
of the kingdom can well afford to wait for such a reward. 

The city of gold is perfect in beauty, and complete in every 
arrangement. Nothing cheap or unfinished will be there. 
Beneath its walls are foundations made of twelve varieties of 
most precious stones. These stones, like lamps, shed forth 
beams of light, and shine with all the colors of the rainbow. In 
the twelve foundations are engraven the names of the twelve 
apostles. Upon the foundation is a wall of jasper stone, clear 
as crystal. Opening through the walls are twelve large gates of 
pearl, and upon the gates are written the names of the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 

John, in describing the greatness and glory of the place, says 

12 John 14:2. I 3 Ps. 48:2, 3, 12. u Rev. 21:18. 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 22 7 

it , 'had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at 
the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are 
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on 
the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south 
three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the 
city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the 
twelve apostles of the Lamb." 15 The height of the wall is one 
hundred forty-four cubits. 16 According to the ancient rule of 
twenty-two inches to the cubit, the elevation equals two hun- 
dred sixty-four feet. 

The names of the apostles in the foundations, and of the 
tribes upon the gates, relate to the order of government in the 
kingdom. In making promise to the apostles, Jesus said, 
"When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye 
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel." 17 

The people of God are sometimes called the "twelve tribes." 
An apostle, addressing his brethren, writes thus: "James, a 
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve 
tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." 18 In speaking of 
the Christian hope before Agrippa, Paul said: "I stand and am 
judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; 
unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day 
and night, hope to come." 19 

As the kingdom of Israel, when properly organized, was 
governed through twelve elders, so will the people of Christ in 
the new earth be under the guidance of the twelve apostles. In 
that kingdom the world will be organized in twelve parts, or 
divisions, called the "twelve tribes of Israel." Each tribe will 
15 Rev. 21 : 12-14. n M 9tt ™ . 08 18 J ames x : *• 



16 



17 Matt. 19 : 28. 
Verse 17. 19 Acts 26 : 6, 7. 



228 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

have its gate opening into the New Jerusalem, and in the foun- 
dation will be written the name of that apostle who will lead the 
tribe. "And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for 
there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory 
and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in nowise 
enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh 
abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the 
Lamb's book of life." 20 

The cities of this world have their grand avenues and prin- 
cipal streets paved with the finest material which they can 
afford. Some are made of wood, some of brick, and others are 
stone. But of the New Jerusalem it is said, "And the street of 
the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." 21 The 
gold in the street is so highly polished that it reflects all sur- 
rounding objects like the most perfect mirror. This great 
avenue passes through the center of the city, and extends from 
wall to wall. The street throughout its whole length, of three 
hundred seventy-five miles, is double, being divided by the 
river of life. Upon it is located the throne of God and of 
Christ. Springing from beneath the throne is the river of the 
water of life. This stream flows in the midst of the street, 
outward from the throne through the city, and branches off to 
the different parts of the earth. Upon the banks of the river 
grows the tree of life, joined together in its branches, and arch- 
ing over the crystal stream. "And he showed me a pure river 
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of 
God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on 
either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare 
twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month." 

20 Rev. 21 : 25-27. 21 Verse 21. 22 Chapter 22 : 1, 2. 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 229 

"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof." 2 The sun and the moon will not cease to 
shine, for in that day it is said, "The light of the moon shall be 
as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven- 
fold." 24 But in the city the glory of God will shine with a 
power above the noonday sun. "The sun shall be no more thy 
light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light 
unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, 
and thy God thy glory." 25 

God and Christ are light, and their glory, which fills the city, 
reaches far beyond its gates, that the nations of them which are 
saved may walk in its light. Of this glory David wrote: "Great 
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in 
the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of 
the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the 
city of the great King." 26 



THE PARADISE OF GOD. 

When the gates of Paradise were closed against Adam and 
Eve, angels took charge of their home, and it was finally trans- 
planted to heaven. Thus, when Paul was in vision, "caught up 
to the third heaven," he could say he was "caught up into Par- 
adise," 27 because Paradise was then in heaven. The tree of life 
is in Paradise; so the promise is, "To him that overcometh will 
I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the 
Paradise of God." 28 As already noticed, the tree of life is in 

23 Rev. 21 : 23. 25 Chapter 60 : 19. 27 2 Cor. 12 : 2, 4. 

24 Isa. 30 : 26. 2e Ps. 48 : 1, 2. 28 Rev. 2 : 7. 



23O THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

the midst of the New Jerusalem. "On either side of the river, 
was there the tree of life." 29 

Here will Adam find again his Eden home. Through all 
time, since the fall, Jesus has preserved its beauty untouched by 
sin. Not a leaf will be faded, nor one flower missing. The 
vines of Paradise will show the same freshness, and their bloom 
fill the air with fragrance, as before the fall. The very plants 
and shrubs in which Adam and Eve delighted will be there. 
The trees, which in creation the Lord made to grow from the 
ground, will yield their fruit as they did before Adam sinned. 

But there will be this difference — the place will be greatly 
enlarged, that the redeemed may have room to dwell. "The 
children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other 
[that is, the people born and saved since Adam was driven from 
Eden], shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait [small] 
for me; give place to me that I may dwell." 30 Again, "Enlarge 
the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of 
thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen 
thy stakes." 31 

Man lost Paradise because of his transgression. His sins 
caused the Lord to shut the gate against him. He must now 
show himself willing to obey God's commandments, before he 
can be admitted back to Eden, and have a right to eat of life's 
tree. " Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they 
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the 
gates into the city." 32 "Open ye the gates, that the righteous 
nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." 33 

Those of all ages and people who have been obedient to 
God will be given the freedom of the city of gold, and a right 

29 Rev - 22 : 2 - « chapter 54 . 2m I Rev. 22 : 14. 

30 Isa. 49:20. 33 Isa. 26:2. 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 23 I 

to the tree of life. Many who will enter the gates of pearl were 
the poor and unnoticed of earth. In humility they defended the 
truth, while the wicked persecuted them for it. To them the 
cause of Christ was dearer than life. Some, like Moses, have 
refused kingdoms; but now their inheritance excels all earthly 
treasures. 

The New Jerusalem was known to Abraham, "for he looked 
for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God." The Lord gave the patriarch knowledge of the splen- 
dor that shines in the city of God, and told him of the joys in 
the land beyond the grave. These things were valued by him 
more than home and friends. He therefore left his native land, 
and became a pilgrim and a stranger, that he might receive a 
better inheritance, "for they that say such things declare plainly 
that they seek a country." 35 

The heirs of promise have not been satisfied with the earth 
cursed with sin, nor with the cities which wicked men have built. 
" They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore 
God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared 
for them a city." The wisdom of their choice honors God, 
and He delights in what they have chosen. "For, behold, I 
create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will 
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people." 37 

Those millions of acres, covered with empty mansions of 
gold, are now viewed by the angels as an evidence of God's 
love for man. The rich buildings are finished and waiting for 
the sleeping saints to arise. In a lonely hut lives a faithful Chris- 
tian; he is poor in this world, but his name is written in heaven, 
and his title is clear to a home of gold. In yonder prison lies 

34 Heb. 11:10. 35 Verse 14, 36 Verse 16. 37 Isa. 65 : 18, 19. 



22,2 THE STORY OF REDEMPTION. 

a man condemned for keeping the commandments of God, 
but in the royal city a palace awaits him. He may be classed 
with wicked men here, but he will be made equal to the angels 
there. 

In heaven the question may be asked, Is the Creator willing 
to own His children in the earth ? But the city of gold prepared 
for their reception answers, "God is not ashamed to be called 
their God; for He hath prepared for them a city." He is not 
ashamed to own before the angels the sinner who repents. " I 
say unto you ; there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
over one sinner that repenteth." 38 

Its beauty will exceed man's fondest hope. "For since the 
beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by 
the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what 
He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." 39 But it is 
only a little while now till the saints of God shall see the city of 
gold. They soon shall see "the King in His beauty," and behold 
the Jerusalem above. There, upon broad avenues, three hun- 
dred seventy-five miles in length, and all of burnished gold, 
they shall meet to sing of their deliverance. From a broad river, 
pure and sparkling, they shall drink of the water of life. Along 
the banks of the crystal stream they will pluck and eat the fruit 
from life's tree. Beneath the far-reaching branches of that tree, 
they will meet with Jesus and contemplate His love. With eyes 
made strong by the glory of God, they will be able to see the 
perfection of beauty contained in all nature. 

Their troubles will be ended, sorrows all gone, and disappoint- 
ments shall come no more. No aching heads, no broken hearts, 
nor disappointed hopes for that land. The fresh-opened graves, 

38 Luke 15 : 10. 39 Isa. 64 : 4. 



THE CITY OF GOLD. 



*33 



to receive the form of a beloved one, shall not be there. The 
funeral procession will not be seen, for "the inhabitant shall not 
say, I am sick." The controversy will then be ended, the curse 
will be removed, the earth renewed, the kingdom established, 
the victory given to all who believe, and the universe made clean. 
"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb 
forever and ever." 40 

40 Rev. 5 : 13. 




HA". 




CM! 



SIGNS OE THE TIMES 



A sixteen-page illustrated weekly religious journal for old and 
young, treating all lines of Bible truth, especially the prophecies of 
Daniel and the Revelation, showing from week to week how the 
events of the past and present are a fulfillment of these wonderful 
books. Where are we in this world's history? is a question troubling 
the greatest minds of the day, and one that is worthy of most serious 
thought and reflection. The prayerful study of God's Word reveals 
wonderful truths in regard to this question. As a leader in such study 
and a faithful expounder of the Word of God, the Signs of the 
Times has no equal. It is a thoroughly live and up-to-date journal, 
having the following important departments: — 

General Articles, containing articles on many Bible subjects 
by leading writers. Editorial, containing practical talks on prac- 
tical themes by experienced editors. Question Corner, in which 
are answered by the editors, various Bible questions of general 
interest, from inquirers. The Outlook shows how the events of the 
day are fulfilling important lines of prophecy. The Home, in which 
appear good stories, hints on health, and items on science and other 
points, riissions, their work, condition, and needs both at home 
and abroad are brought to view from week to week. International 
S. S. Lessons with helpful notes. News and Notes sums up in 
concise form the world's daily happenings. Sample copy free. 

Single copy, one year (52 numbers) $1 00 

To foreign countries in Postal Union $1 50 (6s.) 



Address, Signs of the Times, Oakland, Cal. 



AMERICAN SENTINEL 

A sixteen -page weekly, published in the interests of religious liberty, — Christian 
and constitutional. In the application of principles, non-sectarian and non-partisan. The 
only journal in the United States wholly devoted to the Christian and American principle 
of complete separation of church and state. Price, $1.00 per year. 

Address American Sentinel, 39 Bond Street, New York City. 

OUR UTTUS FRIEND 

"What to provide for the active minds of the younger members of the family, is an 
ever-present question. Do you wish to give the children something of worth ? Do you 
want them to cultivate a taste for that which will be of benefit in after life ? Then give 
them Our Little Friend. It contains not a line of trashy or sensational reading, but 
is filled with practical, moral lessons and interesting things of nature. A special feature 
is the department of the Sabbath school lessons, where are found two sets of lessons ar- 
ranged in simple style, adapted to the young. 

EIGHT PAGES WEEKLY, ILLUSTRATED 

Single copy, per year 50 cents 

Five to nine copies to one address, each 45 " 

Ten or more copies to one address, each 40 " 

Address Our Little Friend, Oakland. Cal. 



YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR 

A twenty-four-page, illustrated, weekly magazine for youth and children, devoted 
to moral and mental culture, and especially designed as a companion for Bible study. 

Single copy, per year $1 00 

Ten or more copies to one address, per year 65 

Address Youth's Instructor, Battle Creek, Mich. 



THE GOSPEL IN GREATION 

The title of this book gives an excellent idea of its contents. It is easy to 
overlook the fact that Moses wrote the Gospel as truly in Genesis as did Paul to 
the Romans; and this leads us to forget that the power employed in creation 
and the power pledged for our redemption are one and the same. Hence many 
spiritual blessings of great value are made of none effect. 

The author of this work, — Dr. ~E). J. Waggoner, of London, — has placed 
the Bible record of the works of creation and redemption side by side, thus en- 
abling the reader to attain and preserve a clear knowledge of the subject 
treated. A study of this book will lead to a recognition of the Gospel in every 
work of God, — in the grass beneath our feet, and the sun that rules our day. 
These truths are presented in a beautiful and thoughtful manner, and invite the 
closest attention. It contains 169 pages, is illustrated, and bound in wine- 
colored cloth, at 40c, and in boards with cloth back, at 25c. 

PROPMET1G LIGHTS 

This is a treatise on the leading prophecies of the Old and New Testaments r 
showing the exact fulfillment of the predictions therein made concerning Egypt, 
Tyre, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, as well as those pointing to the 
second coming of Christ. 

It is interesting to read of the fulfillment of that portion of the Sacred 
Word relating to empires now in ruins, but when such fulfillments form a part 
of a chain of prophecy reaching to the second coming of our I^ord, the impor- 
tance of their study can not be over estimated. The deep and careful study the 
author has given the subject is apparent on every page. The book contains 
nearly 200 large pages, is illustrated, and well bound and printed. Cloth, with 
gilt edges, $1.00; paper covers, 50c. 

SABBATH READINGS 

Four volumes of choice selections from prose and poetry suitable for the 
Sabbath. They contain 1551 pages of the most carefully selected stories for 
every member of the family circle. These selections are short but entertaining 
and instructive, and will be found very appropriate for class, birthday, or holi- 
day gifts. They are strongly and neatly bound in cloth, in various attractive 
colors. Per set, $1.60; per volume, each complete in itself, 40c. 

STORY OF PITGAIRN ISLAND 

By Rosalind Amelia Young, a Native Daughter 

Pitcairn Island, one of the volcanic gems of the Pacific, has been heard of 
wherever the English language has been spoken. The story of the working out 
of the problem of human life on its limited territory reads stranger and more 
thrillingly in many respects than a romance. But most, if not all, of the talcs 
told and books printed have either been too fragmentary or incorrect and mis- 
leading. It will be interesting to the friends of that miniature world to know 
that an authentic history has been written, and that by a native of the island, 
one to the manor born. Miss Rosa Young is one of the direct descendants of 
the mutineers of the Bounty. The book is a plain, unvarnished tale of Pitcairn 
and its inhabitants, from its settlement to the year 1894. It is written with a 
charming simplicity of style which refreshes the reader and invites a continued 
perusal. Illustrated with 26 engravings by the half-tone process, and its 23 
chapters have each a neatly engraved heading. Third edition, with appendix. 
Price, $1.00. 



PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Oakland, Cal. 
39 Bond Street, New York City 14 to 18 W. 5th St., Kansas City, Mo. 



Voting Peoples Library 




SERIES ONE 



[HIS Library covers a wide range 
of topics and territory, being- di- 
dactic, descriptive, biographical, 
and historical. While the books 
inculcate the purest morals and 
are not antichristian, they are 
absolutely non-sectarian. 
A series of volumes which has been widely 
and deservedly popular. — Christian at Work. 




Send for press notices recommending these 
books. We have them from Christian at Work, 
Christian Cynosure, The Independent, Congrega- 
tionalist, Lutheran Observer, Christian Intelli- 
gencer, Illustrated Christian Weekly, Interior, 

New York Observer, Golden Rule, Christian Oracle, New York Weekly Witness, 

Zion's Herald, and The Christian Weekly. 

FIJI AND SAMOA — Jottings from the Pacific, No. 1, is a graphic and interest- 
ing description of the Fijian and Samoan Islands, their geographical po- 
sition, their government and religion, their social and physical peculiar- 
ities, the wonderful productions of these islands, the coral formations of 
the Pacific, cannibalism, the curious traditions of the islands, the past 
and present funeral rites, cyclones in the Coral Seas, and many other 
things of interest. 

JACK THE CONQUEROR: or Overcoming Difficulties, and other stories. These 
are not light, trashy, improbable tales, but they present some of the real 
difficulties which nearly all boys and girls are compelled to encounter, and 
point out the best way to meet them, so as to make the difficulties aids to 
higher attainments instead of hindrances. The book will not only interest 
but benefit the young. 

SAVONAROLA — The life of this great preacher of Florence. The scene of the 
book is of course in that land of romance and song and heroism, Italia, 
where the Apostle Paul and other witnesses of the truth finished the "good 
fight of faith." The little volume is a graphic sketch of the most promi- 
nent events of the preachers life and experience, the monasticism of the 
fifteenth century, the iniquities that prevailed, the political influence of 
Savonarola, his trial and death. 

THE TONGA ISLANDS AND OTHER GROUPS— Jottings from the Pacific, No. 
2. The islands of the Pacific always furnish fascinating topics for young 
readers, and old ones too. Scenic descriptions, the character and customs 
of the people, the progress of Christianity, the products of the islands, 
and historic incidents are all told in an interesting and instructive man- 
ner. 

LETTERS FROM THE HOLY LAND is a most interesting little work. It gives, in 
a series of letters of a father to his children, interesting accounts, accom- 
panied by a large number of full-page pen sketches and illustrated chap- 
ter headings of Eastern life and manners, which will help greatly in a 
better understanding of many things given in the Bible. The stories are 
told in simple language which a child can understand, and at the same 
time are of interest to those of mature years. The book contains an 
appendix of sixteen pages, giving a good description of the geography of 
the Holy L/and, with an outline map. 



AMONG THE NORTHERN ICEBERGS— In this book we are taken to the northland,, 
where King- Frost reigns supreme, releasing only for a little time, now 
and then, his icy grip that he may more securely fasten upon those help- 
less mariners who wander within his domain. The book gives most inter- 
esting sketches of the Arctic expeditions of England and our own land in 
the nineteenth century. The rising generation will appreciate the read- 
ing of this account second only to those who read the graphic narrations 
at the times of their occurrence, 

Series I, 6 volumes, cloth, in a box, $3.00; single volumes, cloth, 60c; 
single volumes, paper, 25c. 



SERIES TIA/O 

A set of six volumes of interesting reading, comprising Instructive Moral Tales, 
Biography and History, and designed especially for Youth. 

LEFT WITH A TRUST is a story of the struggles of a family to help "mother" 
and each other during the absence of the father, and pleasantly reveals 
the brighter side of youth where there is a worthy purpose and a will to 
be kind and affectionate. 

TWO CANNIBAL ARCHIPELAGOES— A graphic description of the New Hebrides 
and Solomon Islands. The luxuriance of their vegetation, the strange 
phases of animal life, the volcanoes and other natural curiosities, the 
manners and customs of the people, and the efforts to civilize and Chris- 
tianize them, are all told in a lively and most entertaining - style. 

JOHN OF WYCLIFFE— "The Morning--star of the Reformation." Every reader 
of the English Bible owes a debt of gratitude to this man, who had so 
much to do with placing the Scriptures in the hands of the people. The 
writer has sketched in striking outlines the great controversies of the 
times and the part that was taken in them by Wycliffe. 

NATIVE LIFE IN INDIA — A most interesting description of the social and relig- 
ious characteristics of the Hindus. The writer of this book spent eight- 
een years in India. The book is fully illustrated with cuts that are made 
from native sketches. 

MARTIN LUTHER — The name of this great reformer is well known in every 
household, and this story of his life, at home, at the university, as a monk, 
as a priest, at Rome, at the Diet of Worms, and finally the closing scenes 
of his eventful career, will be of deep interest to the young. 

LIFE ON THE KONGO— This short, though comprehensive, story of the new-old 
empire of the Kongo, in many respects the choicest portion of the "Dark 
Continent," can not fail to interest young and old. The information 
given has the merit of being the product of the personal observation of 
the author and other well-known parties who have traversed the country 
which is so graphically described. 

Each volume contains 160 pages, is fully illustrated, and neatly bound 
in cloth. 

Series 2, 6 volumes, cloth, in a box, $3.00; single volumes, cloth, 60c; : 
single volumes, paper, 25c. 

This series of books we unhesitatingly commend. They have been thor- 
oughly examined and we know them to be valuable. 

Pacific Press Publishing Company 

New York City, N. Y. Oakland, Cal. Kansas City, Mo. 



6 i 



